Two and a Half Women
by talks
Summary: Navigating through life in New York City with their four year old daughter, Brittany, a photographer, and Santana, a teacher, try to juggle everyday life with the pressures of the world trying to tear apart their happy family.
1. Chapter 1

"Santana, you have a call on line 3." My teaching assistant walks over to me and says quietly. I glance at my Apple Watch and see I didn't miss any calls and frown slightly before standing up and smoothing out my navy pencil skirt. "Keep your eyes on your own tests." I remind my class before leaving the classroom, knowing my TA would keep my students in line and head to the small office attached to my classroom. I take a seat behind my desk and pick up the phone, clearing my throat softly before pressing line 3 and answering.

"Hello, this is Santana," smoothly rolls off my tongue. "Yes, of course, no problem at all. Thank you, have a great afternoon." Hanging up the phone i roll my neck around and head back to my classroom, just as the bell rings. "Drop your tests off in the bin on my desk, and have a great weekend everyone." I smile as I walk to the front of the class and lean against my desk.

I've never been more ready for a weekend then this one, I've been staring at the clock all day, counting down until 3pm, and it's finally here. I'm exhausted, this has been a week from hell and I'm looking forward to laying around the house in comfy clothes and eating junk all weekend. Thankfully I don't have any plans whatsoever, shit, unless Brittany has plans for us, or Emery, our four year old daughter has a playdate, if not, I'm free to cuddle with my loves and just relax.

Brittany and I married seven years ago in Hawaii, a small intimate sunset wedding with just us, our parents, her sister, and my grandfather. It was a bit of a surprise actually, we invited everyone to come to Hawaii for a big trip, which turned out to be our wedding. We didn't want a huge fuss at all and didn't want to do huge wedding planning, wanting to save our money and buy a house instead. So we married on a Wednesday at sunset, spent all day Thursday enjoying being newlyweds on the resort and relaxing before a bunch of our friends and other family members flew in Friday and spent the weekend in paradise with us. It was perfect. Brittany and I reconnected in New York two years after I moved here. Leaving her to date Sam while I chased my dream of fame in New York was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, but it was necessary. I dated around while I was here, nothing too serious to where I saw the rest of my life with any those women, but I had fun. Brittany graduated from McKinley the following year and moved to New York hoping to get into Julliard or some other dance school. Three years after that we finally ran into each other and dated and reconnected, getting to know each other as adults, it seemed like a fairy tale, or some shit you read about in a book or online, it felt too good to be my life.

Neither one of us proposed with a ring, so it was pretty unconventional in that aspect. We had a tiny ass one bedroom apartment that was stupid expensive, but we made it work and loved every inch of the space. We were twenty three years old, I had just graduated from NYU, having given up on my dream of fame and found a more realistic dream of being a teacher, Brittany enrolled in a community college here and took up photography. I was working at a daycare while applying for permanent teaching positions, while Brittany worked at a studio, so we were comfortable with money. I remember the day perfectly, it was snowing, super cold out so we were in the living room, a bunch of candles lit while we laid on a pallet on the floor and listened to music, just enjoying each other's company. She turned on her side and stared at me, while I sang softly to Jill Scott.

 _"I can feel your eyes, babe." I laugh as a I turn and stare at Brittany. "Something on my face?" I ask her. She shakes her head no before giggling and nodding yes and kissing me on the cheek._

 _"Now a kiss is." She laughs loudly._

 _I roll my eyes playfully at her and turn my head to pull her into a deep kiss, breaking it with a small pop. "I love you so much, I could lay right here, just like this forever." I tell her, tangling our fingers together and kissing her again._

 _"You're my forever, Santana."_

 _"You're my forever, Brit." I nod to her in reply. "I can't see myself with anyone else."_

 _"So let's start our forever," she says softly._

 _I raise an eyebrow and sit up slightly. "What do you mean, like get married?"_

 _She shrugs and sits up slightly as well. "Don't you want to marry me?"_

 _"Fuck yeah." I nod quickly. "I mean, of course, you know I do."_

 _"So let's do it." She smiles._

 _I smile brightly. "Okay, ummmm, let's go get some engagement rings, no wait...I need to buy you an engagement ring, and we need to get a wedding planner, don't even think of picking Berry, I'm drawing the line at that." I tell her firmly._

 _She laughs and shakes her head, before sitting up and pulling me in her lap to straddle her. "We don't need any of that,_ ** _I_** _don't need any of that, I just need and want you."_

 _"Elope?"_

 _"Our parents would kill us." She laughs. "How about we plan a trip and do a surprise type of wedding?"_

 _I tap my chin while staring at her. "I love that idea, so we are engaged?" I ask her, a huge smile covering my face when she nods quickly. "Fuck yeah!" I scream before hugging her tightly and kissing all over her face. "I love you so much, Brit."_

We ended up getting married three months later and haven't looked back. I enrolled in school to get my masters, and Brittany took more photography classes while we saved money like crazy and got a bigger apartment. Two years later, our parents came together and gave us money for fertility treatments so we could have a baby as a Christmas gift. After a long talk Brit and I decided I would get pregnant first since I was stable in my career and had just started working at Westchester Prep High School as an English teacher, Brittany was ganging steam with her photography and started her own business of doing photoshoots for families, and we didn't want to derail that in any way. I was fortunate enough to get pregnant on the first try and Emery came the next year, right on Thanksgiving, right during dinner, three weeks early.

Life has been a whirlwind since then, but we are making it. Brittany now owns her own studio and photography company _Perfect Pierce Photography_ , and she teaches photography classes at Cass Middle and High School. I'm still at Westchester Prep, head of the English department, and I oversee the school paper, and the Latino club, all while helping Brit with her company and photoshoots on the weekend sometimes; needless to say we are busy, which is why I'm happy for the quiet ass weekend that is in store.

Stuffing all the tests in a folder for the 8th period class and marking it appropriately, I head to my office and stuff everything in my briefcase, grabbing my laptop and actually remembering to take the cord home today and practically run to my gunmetal grey Jeep Wrangler hopping in and heading straight home.

* * *

"Santana?" I hear Brittany call out to me before I hear a small giggle, followed by a little body using me for leverage to climb on the couch with me. "In the living room!" I yell back. "Well hello, Emery." I smile, hugging her when she immediately cuddles in my chest and hugs me. Emery is my little clone, she came out looking exactly like me from the dark curly hair, to her dark brown eyes, and her dimples, seriously the cutest kid ever.

"Hi mommy." She blushes, peeping out at me as Brittany walks in and leans down to kiss me.

"Hey, you feeling okay?" She asks, probably wondering why I'm still fully dressed and on the couch.

"Yeah, just a long week, please tell me we don't have any plans at all this weekend, I'm begging you." I sigh as Emery jumps up and hops off the couch, running to her toy section in the living room and starting to play with some blocks.

Brittany sits down on the couch, lifting my legs in her lap and starting to massage my feet slowly, glancing at me as I sigh loudly and start to relax. "I don't have any personal appointments, and I don't think Emmy has a playdate, but I need to double check our calendar."

"Okay, I just want to nap all weekend." I tell her as Brittany smiles and lays down in front of me, peppering soft kisses to my face, Emery watching from the floor and smiling brightly before turning and continuing playing pretty quietly shockingly.

"I'll see to it that you do." She nods. "I need to head to the grocery store, I don't suppose you want to go." She asks sweetly.

I stare at Brittany and know she hates the grocery store and doing the shopping so I close my eyes for a moment before opening them slowly. "Of course I'll go, let me change, then I'm in the house all weekend." I tell her as she stands up and heads to answer the house phone that's ringing. I get up slowly and run over to Emery, scooping her up and tossing her in the air while tickling her, catching on to her infectious laughter. "How was school?" I ask her as I head upstairs to get changed.

I toss Emery on our bed and laugh when she does a somersault and reaches for one of her stuffed animals that was laying there. "We learn colors today."

"Whoa, you did?" I ask her with a big smile, slipping off my skirt and slip, hanging them back up with my pink blouse in the closet. "What colors did you learn, can you point them out on the blanket?" I ask her, grabbing a pair of ripped jeans and a distressed black t-shirt, tossing them on with a pair of black Vans. I leave my hair down but take my contacts out and put on my glasses as Emery starts to expertly list the colors she sees.

"Ready, baby?" Brittany asks, walking in the bedroom and clapping when Emery points to red and blue. "Whoa, look how smart you are, do you see this mommy?"

"I do, Emmy is super duper smart." I nod dramatically to her as Brittany sets one of her camera bags in the corner.

"I'll be downstairs in the dark room developing some film tomorrow, I'll try to do it during nap time so you can still relax." She tells me, taking off her heels and slipping on a pair of sneakers as well.

"That's not what I mean when I said I wanted to relax." I tell her softly. "You know that." I add, rolling my eyes slightly at her even suggesting that I didn't want to watch our daughter.

Brittany shrugs and scoops up Emery. "We'll be downstairs waiting for you." She states before walking out of the room and turning around to walk back in.  
"I'm sorry, and I know that's not what you meant, I don't want to argue tonight, San."

"I don't either, I'm just really exhausted, so I probably heard it completely wrong." I nod to her, winking at her when she kisses me on the forehead. I sit on the bed and sigh before looking around at the pictures all over the walls, all of which are photos that Brittany has taken before standing up and heading downstairs.

* * *

"Mommy, we get this one?" I hear Emery ask while I wait for the butcher to wrap up our meat I just picked out. I turn and see Brittany shaking her head no to her before leaning down on the handle of the cart and talking softly to her with a smile, Emery blushing and nodding quickly.

"What is she asking for?" I ask Brittany, walking over to her with the steaks and chicken I ordered.

"A gravy packet." Brittany laughs as I reach in the cart and pick up Emery, just wanting and feeling the need to hold her for a little bit, she cuddles right in my chest and exhales in contentment as Brittany pushes the cart.

"Why do you want a gravy packet?" I ask her, kissing the top of her head and grabbing her teddy bear, offering it to her, but setting it back in the cart when she shakes her head no. "Since we are out, let's stop at Target on the way home, I want to grab something quick."

Brittany nods. "What do you need?" She asks as we head to produce to wrap up our trip. "You know we have perishables." She reminds me.

"I have the cooler in my cargo area, we can put the meat in the there and the frozen things, we didn't get too much other stuff." I tell her. "I won't be long."

"I know how you get in Target." Brittany teases with a smile as she grabs a bag of red onions and potatoes, quickly putting them in the cart as I rub Emery's back, feeling her fall asleep on my shoulder. I unzip the hood her jacket a little and smooth out her ponytail as I adjust her in my arms and grab the shopping list.

"I know." I laugh, because I do go crazy in Target usually. "Just a few things for my classroom, office supplies." I elaborate.

"Oh, okay. I can use more card stock." She nods. "And some some canvas, I have some orders I need to ship out next week, Wednesday at the latest."

"Okay." I reply, bouncing and rocking Emery slowly as Brittany gets all the produce we need, us talking quietly to give our baby girl some peace as if the rest of the store isn't loud as hell.

"She looks just like you when she sleeps." Brittany smiles as we make our way to the checkout.

"My mini me." I nod proudly as she starts to drool on my shoulder, letting me know she's in a pretty deep sleep.

* * *

 **CHAPTERS WILL ALTERNATE BETWEEN SANTANA AND BRITTANY POV**


	2. Chapter 2

"Let's let mommy rest, Emery." I say softly to our daughter when I see her bouncing a toy horse up and down Santana's leg, attempting to make it neigh.

"I playing with mommy." She tells me quickly, shaking her head and furrowing her eyebrows, much like Santana does when I tell her to stop doing something. I stifle my laughter and nod. "I know but she's asleep, if you let her sleep for a bit when she wakes up she'll be super excited to play."

Emery stares at Santana before nodding with a smile, she kisses her pants leg for whatever reason and accepts my extended hand as I lead her to the kitchen where I'm cutting up the fruit we bought at the store. I turn on the radio to Disney Pandora and lift her on the counter next to me so she can watch. I start to cut the pineapple into chunks just as a song from Moana comes on and Emery starts to sing along.

I smile at my daughter and can't help but think how amazing my life is. I mean, I'm 30 years old, married to my best friend and the ultimate love of my life, I have a great career, and we have the most amazing daughter. Life is good. When I moved to New York after I broke up with Sam it wasn't because I was chasing after Santana, even though everyone assumed and stills assumes I did. I went to audition for a performing arts school, and when that didn't work out I went a different route and decided I wanted to make it in the city. I didn't even see Santana the first six months I was there outside of the one time Rachel had a dinner party and invited me over. It was kind of awkward, Santana had a girlfriend at the time, or at least she was dating the girl, she seemed nice but I could tell Santana wasn't really in to her. I don't know if it was because I was there or not, and I don't want to toot my own horn, but I had seen her Instagram pictures and their body language immediately tensed when I walked in. After that I didn't see her for another couple of months until we ran into each other at a bar one night, we shared a cab back to my apartment and ended up staying up all night just talking. It had been almost two years since she moved to New York, and since we hadn't talked often, or really at all, I felt like I was meeting her for the first time.

She stayed over that night and slept on the couch, while I slept in my bed. The next morning she woke me up with breakfast in bed, pancakes and eggs, and we talked for another couple of hours before she had to head to work. We've been together ever since. When I suggested we get married one night, I thought Santana would hesitate, not because I doubted her love, but because I always thought she would want this huge wedding with all the glitz and glam, but when she suggested Hawaii, I was completely on board. She left her hair really curly after she washed it that afternoon and walked down the aisle in a red, yellow, and orange long flower print dress, she was barefoot, and didn't wear much makeup at all, just bronzer and mascara...she looked the most beautiful I had ever seen her. I wore a blue and green shorter floral dress, and was barefoot as well, but I pulled my hair into a messy bun on the top of my head, and as the sun set I became Brittany Pierce-Lopez, happiest day of my life.

Life seemed to speed up after that, we both took part time jobs in addition to our full time ones so we could move to a bigger apartment, then eventually get a house. Which we did just in time for Emery to come on Thanksgiving night. So we now have a gorgeous four bedroom brownstone in Brooklyn. I have own photography studio, where I have two different photographers that work for me, and business is absolutely great. I also do a lot of freelance shoots for newspapers, weddings, and magazines occasionally, all while teaching photography at Cass Middle and High School twice a week. On my website I sell prints of some of the my work as well, and that brings in a good amount of money to the house as well.

"Momma?"

"Yes, honey?" I reply, coming out of my daydream and smiling at Emery.

"I have some?" She asks, pointing to the pile of pineapple chunks on the cutting board.

I nod and turn to grab her a small bowl and scoop some in. "Let's eat at the table, okay?" I suggest, carrying her over to the table and placing the bowl in front of her. "Bite them, don't try to stuff the whole chunk in your mouth." I remind her, kissing the top of her head.

"Pizza for dinner?" Santana asks, walking slowly in the kitchen, while yawning and leaning on the counter next to me, resting her head on my shoulder.

I lift my hand to her neck and head to feel for a fever, since I've never seen her _this_ exhausted and I'm a little concerned. "Sure, want to order?"

"Yeah," she nods as a I hold up a piece of pineapple to her mouth. "Damn, that's sweet." She smiles while chewing it quickly and grabbing another piece. "How does it taste, Tink?" She asks Emery, who now has pineapple juice sliding down her face.

"Good." Emery mumbles while chewing.

"How are you feeling?" I ask Santana again, sliding the pineapple into a bowl and putting the top on, quickly washing down the cutting board and drying it to get started on the cantaloupe. "I haven't seen you this tired in years."

"I'm okay, B, I swear." She nods as she walks over to the drawer to the side of the fridge and grabs the pizza menu out. She then walks over to Emery and lifts her in her lap at the table and calls in the order.

* * *

 **11PM**

I'm laying in bed, thumbing through a magazine when Santana finally comes back in the bedroom after checking on Emery, who somehow found herself hungry _and_ thirsty. "Emmy okay?"

Santana nods while climbing in bed and wiggling to get comfortable. "I did a monster check, we took a shot of water together to swish around our mouth, and we counted to twenty five."

I laugh before setting the magazine on the bed side table and sliding down so I can laugh flat and face Santana, who is staring at me. Running my fingers through her hair I lean forward and kiss her gently. "Now that we finally have a quiet moment alone, how was work, baby?" I ask her, sliding her to lay on me and settle between my legs, she hugs me tightly and exhale deeply on my chest.

"I just wasn't focused today, I had tests all day with my students, so it's not like I had to teach really, but I'm just drained." She shrugs.

Kissing the top of her head I hug her tightly and lay quietly for a few minutes, just enjoying her being in my arms. "I can tell you're drained, you just need a good night's sleep, and to sleep in late tomorrow morning." I add softly. "Do you want me to give you a massage?" I ask her, just as she starts to snore. Laughing to myself I reach over and turn the lamp out. "Good night, baby. I love you." I whisper to her before closing my eyes.

* * *

 **1pm**

"Yes, yes." I smiled proudly as the film I'm developing comes into focus down in the darkroom in our basement. I woke up super early and drove out to this grassy area about thirty miles outside of the city and took pictures of the sunrise this morning, wanting to get new shots and angles of the sky, and they came out absolutely perfect. Carefully taking it out and hanging it to air dry. I take a step back and smile at the print when I fell two arms snake around my waist and a soft kiss on my neck.

"That's gorgeous, Brit." Santana states as I move her from behind me and in front of me instead so I can hold her. "When did you take these?"

"This morning, I woke up early and drove out to take a few shots while you and Emmy were snoring." I tease her. "Feeling better?"

She nods and steps out of the way so I can develop some more film, I glance up at her as she walks around the room, carefully looking at all the pictures I have hanging up. "Yes, thanks for letting me sleep in and just relax this morning, I just checked on Tink, she's still fast asleep."

"Thank God for nap time, she's been hyper this morning." I reply softly, smiling at the next picture as it comes into focus. "We are headed down to Miami next weekend." I tell her causally. "You up for a free trip?" I smile, looking up at her and waiting for her to realize what I said.

"Fuck! Are you serious?" She asks quickly, a huge smile on her face.

"Yes, I have a photoshoot Saturday morning for a few hours, but other than that, I'm free. I booked us tickets for Friday evening and we'll fly back Sunday afternoon." I wink at her.

"Emery coming, or are we leaving her with your parents?" She asks, practically bouncing on her heels.

"I booked her a ticket." I nod to her. "I think she'll enjoy the trip. I have my assistant coming to help me too, so you are off the hook." I smile. "You can spend the morning at the beach with Emmy, she'll love that."

"Yeah she will." Santana smiles. "Soooooo, you _know_ I need to go shopping this week, right?"

I laugh but nod. "We are only going for a few days." I remind her, but I know my wife, and I know that she's is going to pack like we will be gone for weeks.

"I'm so excited, shit, that means I can't give any homework on Thursday...hmmmm, are you going to be working for a while? I need to adjust my lesson plan for the week." She says, bouncing over to me happily. "I love you." She winks as she kisses me deeply.

One of the perks of my job is being flown around the country and world for different photoshoots. The photoshoot I'm doing next weekend is an engagement shoot, she are requesting sunrise on the beach, I absolutely love doing engagement shoots, and one being on the beach is even better because I get to take my gorgeous wife and daughter on a free trip. With Emery getting older I'm able to take her and Santana on more trips with me, when she was younger I would quickly book day trips and fly back home that same day sometime, but last year I had a photoshoot in Seattle, a city Santana had always wanted to visit due to her hidden obsession with Frasier, so we decided to make it a family trip and bring Emmy along, and it went very smoothly. So now when we take her on trips Santana spends some one on one time with her while I work, which she loves, and where Santana usually spoils her. I have a huge photoshoot coming up in Paris the beginning of next year that I decided not to take Emmy on, so we can have some much needed mommy and momma time, which I haven't told Santana about just yet, since I'm finalizing details still, but she is going to freak, I can't wait to see her face when I hand her the tickets.

* * *

 **Monday 8am**

"Okay, let's hang out backpack up in the cubby." I tell Emery, smiling as she hugs her friends as she navigates through the classroom and finally heads to her cubby. I grab her denim backpack with a glitter pink letter E off of her shoulders and hang it up, taking off her yellow rain coat and hanging it up as well, before slipping her rain boots off, and setting them neatly in the cubby as well. After I get her red high top Converse on, I fix her white cardigan sweater. "Have fun today, okay?"

"Okay, momma." She nods, her big brown eyes twinkling, as her ponytail bounces.

I quickly fix her bow in her hair and kneel down to hug her tightly. "I love you."

"I love you too, momma." She blushes before hugging me tightly around the neck and kissing me on the check. I pat her on the butt and smile as she runs over to a group of girls and starts to play. I then walk over to her teacher and smile. "Good morning Mrs. Stevens."

"Mrs. Pierce-Lopez." She smiles warmly. "Lovely to see you again."

"I have Emery's treat for the class for today." I tell her, handing her the bag of trail mix that Santana made up for the class.

"Thank you, Emery is progressing very well in class, she plays well with others, she's very social, very helpful. She articulates herself very well also." Mrs. Stevens smiled. "Very proud of her, she's one of our brightest students."

"Whoa, that's great to hear, you know Santana is a teacher, and works with her a lot at home, so good to see that she retains that information and brings it to school with her." I nod.

"We have our first field trip in a few weeks, here is a permission slip, it's to a pumpkin patch, we are still looking for parent chaperones, I know Santana teaches, but hopefully you are able to make it. You are one of the few parents with a very flexible work schedule during the day."

I accept the paper and stare at the date, trying to mentally check my calendar and see if I have anything planned for that day. "I will definitely be there." I reply. "Have a great day." I tell her, shaking her hand. "Bye Emmy!" I say loudly, causing her to turn and blush, her cheeks turning pink.

"Bye momma!" She waves with a big smile.

Once I get to my Jeep, since yes both Santana and I have Jeep Wranglers, me more so for transporting camera equipment around easier with the cargo area, her just because she thinks the Wrangler makes her look bad ass, but it's fun and cute watching her climb in and out. I pull up my the location to my photoshoot and type it in my GPS before plugging in my phone and turning up the music as I head down the street, ready to take some pictures.


	3. Chapter 3

Westchester Prep High School is the cream of the crop in New York, we are ranked number one in the state for academics and number three in the country. Our boys basketball and football teams are the current reigning champs, the girls softball and volleyball teams as well. Our debate team holds supreme against the other loser schools in the country too, we have a number of students in the National Honor Society, individual students excelling in gymnastics, swim, art, and writing; which yields us with a one hundred percent graduation rate yearly, and ninety percent of our students going straight to college, the other ten percent taking gap years. Let me be blunt, we are the shit. Working here is an honor in itself, and being the head of the English department is an even bigger honor; and the pay is well above the typical salary for a teacher, so it's a win/win situation. All jokes aside I love being a teacher, and my goal has always been to be a better teacher than the shit ones I had at McKinley, I truly care about my students and want them to excel academically. The kids all know they can come to be for any reason, to talk about anything, school related and personal as well, if they need to.

Even though I can be a softy to my students, they know not to try me. I'm a bitch, and proud of it. Some of the students are spoiled rich kids and can get out of line with some teachers, super disrespectful but they know not to try me, we have an understanding. They follow my rules and life is good, a few have landed on my bad side, and they know it. Normally I'm not as burnt out as I am right now by this point in the school year. It's only middle October and I'm drained, which is totally unlike me, so when Brittany said we were going to Miami next weekend I knew it was just what I needed, and I get the feeling she somehow knew that too. even though Brit works like crazy and travels a lot for work, getting little free trips like this is a definite plus and makes up for the times she has to travel during the week, even though she tries not to, at least not while Emery is so young still.

Her parents did move to New York a few years ago, so having them in the city helps out with babysitting when she is gone and I have late nights during the week for conferences or something, but she still likes to stay close to home during the week if she can. She's super modest about her career too. She's been booked by everyone from upcoming actors needing headshots for the first time, to families wanting Christmas pictures, to major magazines and music labels requesting her to do photoshoots for album covers and other promo material, a perk of living in New York is that Brit networks like crazy. I love her ambition, and I like to think of it as a major fuck you to everyone that called her dumb in highschool. I think her 1.1 million instagram followers will say that too.

I'm sitting back during my free period in my office grading the test I gave on Friday when my cellphone rings, a call from Quinn. Rolling my eyes, since she knows I'm work I take a sip of my cherry coke and reach for my phone.

 ** _I'm a highschool teacher and it's 10am, this better be good_**

 _This is your free period, the same free period that you called me during last week to talk about Love and Hip Hop and how devastated you are that the Houston franchise isn't going to take off, and you are stuck with Miami, which will make you depressed that we live in New York and not down there._

I shrug and nod. _**Touche, what's up blondie?**_

 _I need a favor_

 ** _Fresh out of those this year_**

 _Santana..._

 ** _Fine, what is it Q, I am seriously working right now, I'm grading tests._**

 _Can you watch Preston tonight? I have a business meeting and Sully is out of town. Rachel can't, I already called her._

I immediately frown at the phone. _**Why did you ask Rachel first?**_

 _Seriously?_

 ** _Yes_**

 _R comes before S in my phone._

 ** _Bullshit answer, but sure, we can watch Preston, should I come pick him up after work or are you dropping him off?_**

 _I'll drop him off around 6, so he'll need dinner_

 ** _Don't demand I feed your child_**

 _Whatever, see you later. I'll bring you some of that taffy you like from the shop by my office._

 ** _Sweet, thanks._**

I hang up and shoot Brittany a text that we are watching Preston for a few hours tonight for Quinn, I know she wont answer right away since she's on a photoshoot so I set my phone back down and continue grading my tests. Preston is Quinn's four year old son, and is just as pretentious as his damn name. He's super uptight for a kid, but he's so cute and Emery loves him, that's her bestie, so she says. Quinn married Preston Charles Sullivan III, this prick that she met at Yale. He's so stuffy and Brittany hates him, so when we have dinner together it's usually hilarious to me because we are all laughing and hanging out, drinking and having a great time, and he's so stuffy. But hey, if Quinn loves his boring ass, then so be it.

"Mrs. Pierce-Lopez?" I hear softly and look up from the test to see, Ryan, probably my favorite student of all time, standing nervously in front of me, her face is red, and I can tell she's been crying.

I stand up quickly and walk around my desk to her. "Hey, come in." I reply quickly, closing my office door behind her. "What's wrong? Everything okay?"

Ryan shrugs, so I nod to the couch in my office and have her sit down, while I reach in my mini fridge, because I'm not putting my lunch in the teacher's lounge, just gross, and hand her a bottle of water. "I'm going to go sit back behind my desk and finish grading tests. I want you to relax right here, and get yourself together, and _if_ you want to talk when you calm down, then we can. If you want to just leave, you can too. Your choice, Ryan." I tell her softly, locking eyes with her until she nods and accepts the water from me.

Once I sit back down I glance up at her before going back to my tests, wanting to give her some time to calm down and regroup.

* * *

Preston smiles and sets down his truck. "Now what do we play?"

"I the princess, you the frog." Emery announces with a smirk as she skips around the living room with a furry yellow wand in her. Preston frowns at her and shakes his head.

"Why can't I be the prince?" He asks, his big green eyes staring at her.

"My castle." Emery scowls. "Only one castle and its mine." She then shrugs before she starts skipping around again.

I laugh to myself and go back to creating my extra credit worksheet for my freshmen class as Brittany walks in the living room. "Wash your hands for dinner you two."

Emery does a cartwheel out of the room while Preston carefully takes his cape off and folds it up before setting it on the couch neatly and running after her. "He's a little dweeb."

"Stop it." Brittany says quickly.

I smile before laughing cause Brittany to laugh. "What kid folds up their cape?" I ask her, standing up to make sure that the kids are washing their hands with soap.

"It's cute." Brittany giggles, before pulling me into a kiss quickly. "He's like a little Quinn."

"Completely." I nod with a smile. "Do you need help setting the table? I want to make sure those two aren't playing in the sink."

"I got it." Brittany replies, heading towards the kitchen.

As I walk in the bathroom I see Preston squirting soap in Emery's hand before squirting some in his own, the two standing on the little step ladder at the sink together, attempting to wash their hands. Staring at Preston I totally see Quinn, it's like she spit him out herself. He has her greenish, hazel eyes, her blonde hair, and her thin lips. He's a boy Quinn. Its actually super cute, he's such a momma's boy too, when Quinn is close by no one else matters or exists.

"You two are doing so good." I praise them, grabbing paper towels for them each and watching them dry their hands before they hop down and run to the kitchen. I wash my hands before following after them, lifting Emery in her seat, while Preston climbs in next to her. Brittany sets plates of cut up baked chicken tenders, broccoli, and roasted potatoes in front of them. I then grab some berry flavored water and pour it in cups for them, before grabbing my own plate.

"Looks good, B." I kiss her on the cheek and sit down, accepting the glass of wine she pours for me.

"I have some?" Emery asks me softly.

"No." I shake my head at her. "You have berry water."

"Bueberries Aunt Tana?" Preston asks me.

"Yep." I nod to him.

"Cool." He grins and picks up his fork starting to eat right away, while Emery continues to stare at my glass of wine.

"I want some." She repeats.

"Emmy." Brittany says softly but sternly, causing her to sigh and pick up her fork and start to eat.

"What did you two do in school today?" I ask since Emery and Preston go to kindergarten together.

"Color pumpkins." Preston says brightly, his eyes lighting up behind his bright blue glasses, which are so fuckin adorable on him. Quinn has glasses of him in all colors, and switches them up so they pop against his outfits. It almost makes me wish Emery wore glasses so I could do the same thing.

"We trick or treat?" Emery asks.

"Of course, we are going to get so much candy, right mommy?" Brittany smiles at me, knowing how I feel about the whole concept of trick or treating. I rather just buy her a bunch of candy than have to sit and check each piece because of the psychos in the world that like to poison kids or give them HIV, or whatever they are injecting in candy now, razor blades, weed, small needles, the list on the news was enough for me to not want to take her.

"Sure." I mumble while shrugging.

"I'm a Vampire this year." Preston nods proudly.

"Whoa, super cool, I can't wait to see it." Brittany beams, she's so into Halloween and will no doubt force me to decorate the house with her. "Emery is still deciding, right honey?"

Emery nods quickly with a smile since she's been looking through magazines with Brittany for the past week or so trying to decide on a costume. I offered to get her a Cheerio outfit and she can go as me, but Brittany frowned on that idea for some reason.

"I'll help." Preston tells her.

"How about after dinner, we can make some rice krispy treats and pick out something?" Brittany suggests.

* * *

 **Friday 8pm**

I close my eyes tightly as the plane jerks again harshly, Emery is straddling me fast asleep, I have a blanket over her as I hug her as tight as I can. I feel a cool sensation on my neck and open my eyes to see Brittany dabbing my neck with an ice cube wrapped in a napkin.

"Relax." She whispers, before kissing me on the cheek and laying her head on my shoulder, placing her hand on Emery's back.

I hate flying, absolutely hate it, and it's because of shit like this. Brittany has always loved flying and with as much as she travels for work, she's used to it, but I don't fly as often as her, and it stresses me out. Luckily I have the best wife in the world and she knows how to calm me down.

"Are you okay?" She asks me, moving her hand from Emery to my arm and rubbing there instead.

"Yeah, I just can't wait for the plane to land. I will never get used to this shit." I sigh, opening my eyes and locking them with Brittany, who winks at me, which starts to calm me down until the plane drops again, and woman screams, waking up Emery, who sits up slowly and looks around, her eyes wide with fear now as the plane rocks.

"M-m-mommy." She starts to cry, while grabbing my shirt tightly.

"I got you, you're okay, mommy has you." I tell her quickly, before turning and glaring at the damn woman.

A flight attendant walks down the aisle quickly and glances at us. "Your daughter needs to be buckled into her seat."

"I'm not letting go of her, she'll freak out, I have my seat belt around her, she's safe." I tell her quickly.

"Ma'am."

"She's fine." Brittany says quickly, knowing I'm about to go off on the woman. "She's fine, she's secure." Brittany says lifting the blanket and showing how tight the seatbelt is around the both of us.

The flight attendant rolls her eyes and continues walking down the aisle as Brittany starts to pepper kisses to Emery's face. "Let's sing the alphabet to mommy." She tells her with a small smile.

I glance down and see Emery peeping out at Brittany, shaking her head no. I can feel her shake with her dip of the plane and my heart starts to break. "Sing with momma." I tell her softly, taking her ponytail out and starting to massage her scalp, which always calmed her down as a baby.

Brittany starts to sing the alphabet and I relax when Emery starts joins in with her.

* * *

"Emmy is fast asleep." Brittany says walking living room portion of the suite and handing me a shot of tequila. "Rough flight."

"More than rough." I sigh as Brittany straddles me and sits on my lap, we clink our shot glasses together and knock back the shots. I then hug her tightly and try to calm myself down since I'm still pretty shaken up from the flight.

"You still haven't gotten used to flying?" Brittany asks when i finally let her go and she pours another shot and hands it to me.

I roll my eyes and knock back the shot. "Not really, I'm okay until turbulence kicks in and it creeps me out. I always imagine the plane crashing."

"Geez Santana." Brittany frowns. "Let's take a nice long shower together and relax." She winks.

I know exactly what her wink means so I lean forward and kiss her deeply, flipping us over so I'm laying on her on the couch, and settle between her legs. She cups my face and kisses me on the nose, which makes me blush for some reason. We haven't had sex in almost two weeks, both of us being so busy and tired lately, so I think Miami is the perfect place for us to respark our sex life. "Let's take a bath and test our that whirlpool tub, I have an idea." I smirk, pulling her stand up with me and following me to the bathroom.


	4. Chapter 4

I groan and sigh as my alarm blares through the hotel bedroom, reaching over Santana I quickly grab my phone and turn it off as Santana rolls out of my arms and turns the opposite direction, sighing in her sleep. I feel like we just went to sleep, mainly because we did. It's 4:30am, but we were up making love until close to 2am; nice and slow, sloppy, sticky, and passionate, just the way we like. Luckily Emery was tired from the flight and the long day because I know we were louder than we should have been.

Slipping out of bed I head to the bathroom and shower before getting dressed in a pair of jean shorts, and a black v neck tshirt. I throw my wet hair in a high bun knowing it will dry in the Miami heat quickly and look through my suitcase for a pair of sneakers to put, settling for a pair of all purple Nike's, knowing Santana must have packed them, since I don't remember putting them in the suitcase. I apply a light layer of makeup and thank myself for packing up all my equipment last night, so I can just grab the bag this morning. I send my assistant a text, telling her to meet me in the lobby in fifteen minutes.

"Santana, honey I'm leaving." I whisper in her ear, kissing down the side of her face. "I'll be back in a couple of hours so we can go get breakfast with Emery."

Santana nods in her sleep but never opens her eyes, so I'm not sure if she heard me or not. I stare at her and debate waking her up but instead decide to send her a text message to let her know. I go to the room Emery is in and kiss all over her face softly, smiling when she smiles in her sleep, gosh I love this little girl. I can admit I never pictured myself as a mother, but from the moment I saw her sonogram and heard her heartbeat I've been in love. Holding her for the first time was such a surreal moment, after Santana pushed her out I practically walked on the nurses heels to see her, and the smile that crossed my face when I saw she looked exactly like Santana was unreal. She came out with all this curly hair and opened her big brown eyes and screamed like crazy, I knew she would have my heart. Santana and I got married young, we are the first to admit that, and we had Emery young, but we wouldn't change a thing, I love my life, I love being married, and I love being mom; but it is surreal to me sometimes.

Emery is laying flush on a pillow for some reason so I laugh and rub her back, she's so small for her age, truly taking after Santana, so seeing her lay on this pillow just enhances how small she is. Small but loud, she makes her presence known wherever she goes. She has such a personality, it's always a treat to see when it comes out. She's definitely not shy at all, no matter where we are. She's a mommy's girl and sits up under Santana a lot, especially if we are in public, but that shyness doesn't last long. I rub her back for a few more minutes before kissing the top of her head and leaving her room, making sure to leave the door open. When I walk back in the living room I see Santana leaning on the counter in front of the Keurig machine, half asleep.

Laughing softly I walk over to my wife, who's barely dressed, only wearing a pair of black lace panties and a thin grey tank top and hug her tightly from behind from rubbing her exposed thighs. "Go back to bed."

"I'm making you coffee." She rasps.

"Thank you, but go back to bed, baby, it's early." I repeat.

"Breakfast when you get back?" She asks, standing up and turning to lean more into me.

"Yes." I nod. "I should only be a few hours." I tell, running my hands up and down her back, images of last night flashing through my brain.

"I'm going to go cuddle with Emery, she still asleep?" Santana then asks, quietly.

"Yes." My eyes flicker down to her lips, I lean down and kiss her deeply. "Okay, I gotta go." I manage to get out when the kiss breaks. One thing about our marriage is that even after seven years the fire is still very much lit with us. I can still get turned on just looked at Santana, and I know she does with me too. I kiss her on the forehead and smile as she walks to Emery's room, turning to glance at me.

"Knock em dead." She winks before walking in.

"Whew." I exhale before grabbing my equipment and leaving the hotel.

* * *

"Nice, nice." I nod as I take picture after picture of the happy couple. I have a another camera set up to catch some pictures of the sunset myself, it's so gorgeous and I didn't want to miss getting some shots to share with Santana. "Now, let's get some of the two of you sitting on the sand together, pick whatever pose is comfortable for you two." I smile, picking up my old school camera that has film in it and getting ready.

Whenever I do a shoot I like to let people do what's natural and comfortable for them. I don't like to give direction, I think it stifles and ruins the essence of what photography is supposed to be about. One of the reasons I fell in love with taking pictures is being able to pull the beauty out of the smallest things. I started off with taking pictures of landscape and builtins, then I started to take pictures of people, just random people walking through the street. Each picture to me represents a story, I would craft these stories in my mind about the most random person running after a cab downtown or in Times Square. I would stare at my pictures for hours, just imaging these amazing lives for people, or these depressing lives for people.

One of the reasons I love engagement shoots is because you can feel the love oozing off of them. The couple I'm shooting today is William and Marie, they are high school sweethearts, survived going to college on different coasts, and found their way back together. I see hearts just floating around them when I look at them, beautiful couple. When a couple is truly in love I don't need to tell them how to pose, I want their love to guide them. Something as personal as engagement pictures should reflect your love and your relationship, not the direction that I give it for a few snapshots.

"Looking good you two." I beam at them, switching my film to capture some black and white pictures for them.

After another thirty minutes, I get all the shots I need and show them a few on my DSLR camera, smiling happily when they love the pictures. They had me the second payment for the shoot and I head back to the hotel, knowing that Emery is probably wide awake, while Santana sleepily lays on the couch or cuddles in bed with her, letting her bounce around and watch cartoons.

Walking back in the hotel I'm immediately rushed by Emery as she latches on to my leg and hugs me tightly. "Hi momma."

"Hey you." I smile, setting down my equipment and scooping her in my arms, smiling at her footed pajamas, her curly hair all over her head. "Where's mommy?"

"Her over there." She points to the couch, where Santana is cuddled in a ball, a blanket on top of her while she watches tv and sips a cup of coffee. She has her glasses on, her hair a mess on her head but still looks amazing somehow, she looks so effortlessly beautiful right now, I can't help but stare at her.

"Hey, Brit, how was the shoot?" She asks with a big smile as Emery climbs on the couch and wiggles to cuddle in Santana's arms, my wife lifting the blanket and snuggling her tight, kissing the top of her head, and setting her mug down, since she knows that Emmy will bump her and spill it.

"Amazing, reminds me of when we took our wedding pictures on the beach." I smile.

"Good, do you think you can set up your tripod and get some family shots of us tomorrow morning at sunrise on the beach?" She asks, running her fingers through Emery's hair and trying to tame it a little, Emery jumping up and playing in Santana's hair instead.

"That's a great idea, I would love that, jeans and white tank tops?" I ask her, "or do you want to do something different?"

"I love that." She nods. "That's perfect. We can see if anything catches our eyes at the mall today to wear, but I love the simple theme, can you do some black and white pictures too?"

"You know those are my absolute favorites, so of course." I nod. "I'll change for breakfast, then you can get dressed while I get Emery ready."

Santana stands up and hands me her coffee to finish. "I'll get her dressed now, so you don't have to worry about it."

* * *

An hour later we are walking down one of the Miami strips headed to breakfast. I have one short royal blue linen romper with a pair of gold sandals, my hair in a high bun since it's super hot and I want it off my neck completely, Santana is wearing a short floral skirt with a blank tank top, bright pink heels, her hair in a sleek high ponytail, with Emery in a matching outfit as Santana's, except she has on pink sandals. She's holding Santana's hand tightly while skipping alongside her happily, a huge smile on her face.

"How about here?" Santana asks, lifting her hand that's holding Emery's to point at a café.

"Sure." I shrug as she leads up in, immediately getting a table for us.

"Let's try to stay clean and pretty." She tells Emery, winking at her, Emery nodding quickly in reply as I reach in the bag I have with me and hand her iPad to her, letting her play a few games for a while.

A waitress walks over and smiles at us. "Welcome to Salatha's, I'm Teresa, I'll be your waitress this morning, what can I start you ladies with?"

"Lechee mimosa for me." Santana says quickly. "OJ for the little one, no pulp please, Brit, baby..." She then nods to me while accepting the menu.

"Bloody Mary for me." I smile. "Oh, and a pitcher of water please, with lemon if you have it."

"Sure thing, all the breakfast items are listed on the right side of the menu, children's menu is in the back. Today's specials are a fajita breakfast skillet, sizzling rib eye steak with scrambled eggs, homefries, salsa, cheese, onions, and peppers, comes with a side warm tortillas on the side." She smiles. "We also have waffle bites, which the little might like, they are mini waffles with cinnamon and brown sugar, with a flight of dipping sauces."

I lock eyes with Santana, who nods. "Can you give us a moment to look over the menu?" I ask.

"Sure thing, I'll get those drinks out for you." She nods and walks away.

"Mommy, help." Emery says, tapping Santana on the arm.

Santana looks and grabs the iPad from her, probably typing in a password, and hands it back to her, turning down the sound a little so we don't disrupt anyone else around us.

"Tink, do you want waffles bites?" Santana asks her, holding up the menu and tapping the picture for her.

Emery looks up from her ipad and nods happily. "Okay."

"That was easy." I smiled. "I think the breakfast special sounds good." I say, scanning the menu.

Santana nods and hums to herself as Emery stands up and leans on her shoulder. "What looks good?" She asks, Emery blushing while shrugging. I watch Santana point to each picture and explain what it is, having Emery identify certain words before she decides on a Denver omelette with pancakes on the side.

"Sit down, baby." Santana tells Emery, lifting her and sitting her in the booster seat we have for her.

"Feel like doing some shopping?" I ask Santana with a smile.

Santana raises her eyebrow at me and nods slowly. "You know the way to my heart."

* * *

 **2pm**

After breakfast where Santana had four mimosas, which I will admit irritated me, because what are you doing? We have our daughter with us. We went and did some walking on the strip where Santana proceeded to have two martinis, so now as we are doing some light shopping, I have a drunk wife with me and a four year old who's asking for everything her little eyes can spot out.

"Score!" Santana yells loudly. "Shoe sale, come on Emery, let's get some shoes."

Emery looks up at her and smiles brightly as Santana leads us into a boutique. I watch her walk around and look at each shoe closely before getting the sales clerks attention to get her size. I roll at my eyes when I see her sway a little and go over next to her, still keeping an eye on Emery, who is walking around the boutique, and place my hand on her lower back, causing her to turn and smirk at me, while I keep my slight glare at her.

"Mommy, this one?" Emery asks Santana, shaking her arm.

Santana looks down and smiles at the shoe Emery holds up to her, a pair of red snakeskin stilettos. "Good choice." She winks at our daughter, who gets excited when Santana grabs the shoe. "Yo, I need this in an 8 too, wait, an 8 and half, I want to keep my pinky toe in tact."

"Santana." I whisper harshly.

"What?" She asks, turning around quickly and nearly falling over. "Look how narrow this is, I don't want corns." She shrugs.

I catch Santana and whisper in her ear. "I can't believe you got drunk this early with our daughter, seriously." I snap at her.

"Calm down." She frowns. "Are you having fun, Tink?" She asks Emery, who yawns and nods quickly. "See."

I roll my eyes at her just as the clerk comes out with her four shoe boxes, she walks over and takes a seat, lifting Emery in the chair next to her and begins to try on the shoes, dancing around in them as Emery claps, before nodding in approval and pulling out her credit card to pay. I glance at my phone when I see Emery yawn again and begins to curl in a ball in the chair.

"Come to momma." I kneel down and open my arms, smiling when she trots over, and pick her up, knowing she will fall asleep on my shoulder.

After Santana pays we head back to the hotel where I lay Emery on the couch since she's fast asleep, slipping her sandals off of her, while Santana stumbles to the bedroom, her drinks all catching up to her at one time. I roll my eyes as she collapses on the bed. Slipping her shoes off I toss them to the side and head back out to the living room and lay down with our daughter.

* * *

 **7pm**

Santana really pissed me off earlier today, this is supposed to be a family trip, well it's a work trip for me really, but anytime we have Emery with us, it's a family event; and she knows that. I don't know what's gotten not her lately, but I don't like it and I won't tolerate it. Yes, we both drink and get high from time to time, but never when Emmy is with us or around, especially on a vacation like this. When Emery woke up from her nap I got her dressed in her bathing suit and the two of us hit the beach. Emery of course asked about her mommy the entire five minute walk, and since i couldn't tell her that mommy is drunk, I had to think on my feet and just distract her with the promise of ice cream after we played in the sand.

"Whoa." Emery smiles as we build our sand castle, her loving our one on one time just as much as I am.

"You are doing so good." I tell her, leaning over and kissing her on the cheek as she pats a wall down.

"Preston builds sandcastle in his box." She tells me quickly. "I help."

"I bet you two build some pretty cool ones at Quinnie's house." Quinn has a huge sand box for Preston in her backyard that Emery raves about all the time, a hint that she wants one, Santana however is not budging on letting her get one, fearing that Emery will just track a bunch of sand in the house daily. I pick up my camera and start to take pictures of Emery playing in the sand, catching the sun as it starts to set.

Emery is favorite muse for my photography, her innocence and youthful seems to just jump off the film. I have my black and white film in and catches shots of her smiling up at me, concentrating on her sand castle, and her smiling brightly while in mid laughter. Her little laughter in infectious and I start to laugh with her, taking shot after shot.

"Best sandcastle I've ever seen." I hear softly.

Glancing over my camera I see Santana and take a few pictures of her but I don't speak, she knows me well enough to know that I'm pissed at her right now, so she looks nervously at me before kneeling down next to Emery.

"Mommy, here, you help right here." Emery tell her, handing her a small shovel.

"Thanks, baby, you are doing such a good job." Santana smiles, glancing at me again.

"Thanks mommy." Emery shrugs, watching Santana start to dig a small moat for her.

I continue to take pictures of the two of them before setting the camera down, on the small tripod I brought, and setting the timer to catch some shots of the three of us playing in the sand. Santana leans over and tries to kiss me on the cheek, but I lean back so she can't, a move that she quickly catches and sighs before glancing at Emery, who is happily playing.


	5. Chapter 5

Life has been tense since we got back from Miami last week, Brittany is still pissed at me, like really pissed, even if she isn't truly showing it. We still talk and interact like normal, making good on our promise to ourselves and to Emery the day we brought her home to never argue in front of or around her. We've held true to our promise so far, our only major argument since she's been born we had in the car during her nap, the baby monitor in the car with us. I can admit that me getting drunk was irresponsible, but shit happens, I tried to apologize that night to Brit with a nice candlelit picnic dinner on the beach, but she declined and suggested that we just hang out with Emery in the suite that night. Having some family time is always cool and fun, but I knew she was suggesting that over some grown up time alone because she was pissed.

We still woke up early the next morning and took some family pictures on the beach during the sunrise, Brittany had two cameras set up, one with black and white film, the other with color. They came out so amazing, we were able to put on huge genuine smiles for the pictures. Emery looks so happy, smiling between the two of us. Sunday when we got home Brittany developed the pictures and took them to a printer to keep some copies made so we could send them to my parents, who now lived in Boston, my dad getting a major job offer that he couldn't refuse. I made a light dinner of grilled salmon salads for us while we both prepped for work separately.

It's been a week and I know Brit is still pissed, but I don't know what to do to make it up to her, or to show her that I'm really sorry. It's driving me crazy so I decided to call in some reinforcement help. Emery had a half day at school so Brittany picked her up and took her back to her studio with her while she finished up work for the day, which since it's Wednesday, means she'll be at work until around 6pm. Ordinarily I would go pick up Emery and bring her home, but Brittany texted me and let me know that she was taking her after school nap at her studio in her office, and I didn't need to drive across town to get her. I replied back that she should grab dinner with her and have a little date. Once she sent back a simple _ok_ text message, I texted Mercedes and asked her to meet me for dinner.

Taking a sip of my martini I smile when Mercedes comes walking over to the table. "Sorry I'm late." She smiles, hugging me tightly when I stand up. "Cute blazer." She adds, noticing my black and burgundy silk blazer I have on, I paired it with a pair of black skinny jeans, and ankle boots for school today.

"Thanks." I wink at her while she sits down. "I ordered you an apple martini, they are on special for happy hour.

"Thanks, so where are Brittany and Emery?" Mercedes frowns, I thought I having dinner with you all."

I shake my head as she takes a sip of her martini. "Nope, Im in the dog house still."

Mercedes chuckles softly. "For what?"

"Oh shit, I didn't tell you?" I ask her quickly, my eyes widening when I realize I haven't talk to Mercedes in a few weeks.

Shaking her head Mercedes shrugged. "You're busy, I'm busy."

I nod in agreement. "Well...we went to Miami last week..."

"Jealous." Mercedes chimes in with a big smile.

"Yeah, Brit was booked for a photoshoot, so we got a free trip, we took Tink and everything." I smile.

"So...free trip, warm weather, Miami bitch, what's the problem?" Mercedes asks as the waitress comes and takes our order.

I order calamari as an appetizer and tell the waitress she can bring it out to us right away since I'm starving. "I got super drunk by like 2pm, and we had Emery, I ended passed out drunk around 4pm." I say quietly.

Mercedes' eyes widen quickly. "With Emery?"

I nod slowly.

"Shit, what the hell were you thinking?" She asks.

"It was beautiful weather, the drinks were amazing, and I just can't get into this school year for reason." I shrugs. "It was shitty to do, I know that, but Brit hasn't forgiven me just yet."

"Have you actually apologized?"

"I bought her flowers like three different times last week." I frown.

"Have you actually apologized, Santana. Verbally said _I'm sorry Brittany_." She repeats.

I roll my eyes and shrugs. "She knows I'm sorry."

"Does she?" Mercedes asks, raising her eyebrow at me.

* * *

 **Wednesday 5pm**

"Santana, I'm heading to the store to grab some Halloween decorations for outside, Emmy wants to come, so we'll back in a few hours." Brittany tells me, poking her head in the bedroom where I'm changing out of my clothes from work.

I look up at her. "Wait...I'll go with you two." I reply quickly.

"You hate Halloween shopping and decorations." Brittany replies. "You don't have to."

I sigh. "Do you not want me around?"

Brittany frowns and walks in the bedroom. "What? Why would you say that?"

"You're mad at me." I shrug, slipping on a pair of jeans and sitting on the bed, looking nervously at her.

Clearing her throat she leans against the door frame. "I'm not mad at you honey, disappointed but not mad." She explains. "What's going on with you? You never drink like that, especially around Emmy?"

I look down at my hands and shrug. "I can't shake this draining feeling at work. I'm sorry, Brittany, really sorry." I finally tell her. "There's no excuse for what I did, you know? You having to take care of me and Em, and I missed most of the beach day, I fucked up."

Brittany walks in closer and sits on the bed next to me. "What's going on? You love teaching, and I know you love your school, so what's up? Talk to me."

Taking a deep breath I roll my eyes and shrug. "Maybe I just need to switch up the curriculum, or try something new at school to get me out of this funk. I have parent conferences in a few weeks so I'll wait until then."

"Thank you for apologizing." Brittany smiles, turning my head to kiss me softly. "Do you want me to help you think of new stuff to teach? Try to spice up the classroom a little."

"I would love that, Brit, thanks." I reply with a smile as Emery comes running in our room.

"Momma, let's go get the pumpkins." She smiles happily.

"You heard her, momma." I laugh while standing up and grabbing my Uggs to slip on.

* * *

We are walking through the public market, me sipping a spiced apple cider, while holding Emery's hand tightly, her sipping on a warm apple cider herself, looking around at all the commotion, since it's a damn zoo in here right now.

"Do not let my hand go, unless momma grabs your hand." I tell her sternly, smiling when she nods quickly, glancing up at me with a smile.

"What about some orange lights?" Brittany asks me, looking up from the ideas she pinned on Pinterest on her phone.

I shrug and look around at all the little stands that are scattered around. "This is all you, babe, whatever you want is cool." I reply.

"What do you think Emmy?" Brittany asks her with a big smile.

"Pumpkin lights." She nods in reply.

"Ooooohhhhh, I wonder if we can find some here." Brittany smiles. "If not I'll order some from Amazon, and have them delivered."

"Okay." Emery replies, handing me her empty cup, I glance around and toss it quickly in the garbage can we pass as Brittany heads to a stand and looks at hay bales and some gourds. She's going to the pumpkin patch with Emery on Friday for her field trip so she isn't going to get any pumpkins here most likely, and thank God because I don't want all that dirt in the pack of my Jeep.

I watch Brittany swipe her card over and over, getting all this crappy shit that will just be taken down the day after the damn holiday, but she loves all holidays so I smile and just carry whatever bags she hands me, Emery wanting to carry the small hay bale that Brit bought, her planning to buy bigger ones at the pumpkin farm. I'm getting some kettle corn to share with Emery when she squeals and starts and to jump up and down.

"Mommy, Preston here!" She shrieks.

I look up as Quinn, Sully, and Preston come walking towards, Preston equally as happy to see Emery, pulling Quinn, who apparently isn't walking fast enough for him. "The Sullivan family, how fancy seeing you three here." I smile as Brittany walks over with three bags of orange shit.

"Hey." Quinn smiles brightly, bending down and hugging Emery, as Preston jumps in my arms for a hug.

"Where's Brit?" Quinn asks, her rude ass husband ignoring us on a phone call, as usual.

"Right here." Brittany smiles. "Hey Preston, super cool glasses." She winks at him, while giving him a high five. Preston has on a pair of orange glasses that are just adorable.

"They are for Halloween Aunt B." He explains, tapping the glasses and causing me to notice that they have black arms.

"Totally cool." Brittany gushes as Preston gives Emery a big hug and begins to show her the stickers Quinn just bought him.

"How much do you spend on glasses for him?" I ask Quinn with a smile.

"Enough." She laughs. "What are you ladies picking up?" She asks.

"Halloween decorations." Brittany smiles happily. "What about you four?" She asks.

Quinn raises an eyebrow in confusion while I laugh because I know exactly what Brittany means when she says four. "Four?"

"Well Sully's phone is clearly a part of the family outing, right?" Brittany asks with a shrug.

Preston Charles Sullivan III is a stock broker that lives and dies by his phone, which is understandable given his job, but shit. He looks up at us and half ass waves to which I just roll my eyes. "Not now, Brittany." Quinn shakes her head.

"Quinnie, I got Preston a gift." Emery says confidently. "You come get it at our house?"

Quinn looks to me for confirmation, so I nod gently. "We were in Miami last weekend while Brit had a photoshoot and Emery found something she absolutely had to get for Preston." I laugh. "Why don't you three come over for a little Halloween fun this weekend, and Preston can get his gift."

Preston looks up at Quinn quickly before hugging her leg and smiling when Quinn began to run her fingers through his hair. "Sounds good, I'll call you and set up details tomorrow sometime."

"Cool." I nod, handing Preston the small baggie of popcorn I just poured for him with a wink.

"We need to get going, Sully has a dinner meeting." Quinn smiles, kissing us each on the cheek and nodding a yes to Preston, when he holds up a sheet of stickers, asking if he can give Emery one.

"What do you say, Em?" Brittany asks.

"Thanks Preston." She mumbles, staring at her new sticker sheet.

"Trick or treat on Saturday night? Our neighborhood or yours this year?" I ask her quickly before I forget.

"We are actually Sunday afternoon this year." Quinn frowns.

"Gross, well are you bringing Preston over by us? Brit's parents are passing out candy for us." I ask her.

"Sure." Quinn nods as Sully walks over by us finally.

"Hey Emery." He winks at her.

"Hi Mr. Sully." She responds with a big smile.

"Quinn, we need to get a move on." He says sternly.

"All you see is the miniature version of me?" I ask him, rolling my eyes.

He clears his throat, "good evening Santana, Brittany." He replies.

"Good night." Brittany replies, grabbing Emery's hand as we walk away.

* * *

I'm in the office at home trying to think of what I can do to spice up the curriculum at school, or at least my classes a little when Emery comes trotting in the room. I raise an eyebrow while glancing at the time on my laptop.

"It's 10pm, honey." I frown, "why are you awake?"

"My tummy hurts." She says softly, her eyes now glossy and her cheeks red, a sign she's been crying.

I stand up quickly and walk over to her, kneeling down and feeling her neck for a fever, noticing she has a small one. "Maybe we had too much junk at the public market." I sigh, since we ate dinner down there, which was mainly just food from a bunch of different stands. Lifting her in my arms I kiss her on the forehead and walk out of the office, bumping into Brittany.

"Hey, what's wrong? Why is she awake?" She then frowns, running her fingers through Emery's hair, my baby girl leaning on my chest now, while holding me tightly around the neck.

"She has a little fever, and said her stomach hurts." I explain. "Grab some pedialyte for me, please. I think there's a bottle in the fridge, otherwise I'll run to the store."

Brittany nods and kisses Emery on the forehead, to gauge her fever, smiling at her before heading downstairs. I carry Emery to the bathroom and grab a cool compress for her before carrying her down the hall to her bedroom, and sitting on her bed, dabbing her neck and chest, once I open her pajamas.

Brittany walks in with a small smile and hands Emery the small pedialtye juice box. "Drink it as much as you can, Emmy."

Emery accepts it and leans against my chest again. "Too much junk, momma." I tell her with a smile.

Brittany laughs. "I agree, we kind of went overboard." She then sits on the bed next to me and rubs Emery's leg. "I know you're working, I can sit with her, I don't have appointments tomorrow, I was just going to drive around town and get some black and white shots for Mercedes's office."

"No, I can sit with her until she falls asleep, I was just going over some books I can probably introduce later this semester and watching some videos of what other teachers around the country are working on."

I don't know how much time passed but I wake up to Brittany rubbing my arm. "Come to bed, her fever is down." She whispers to me. I sigh and blink slowly as I rub Emery's back, her laying flush on me. Brittany carefully slides her to the bed and wraps her arm around her Skye Paw patrol stuffed animal. I rub her back as I roll out of bed and turn on her nightlight. I fold the covers down to her waist so she doesn't get too hot before following Brittany to our bedroom.

"What time is it?" I rasp.

"A little after midnight." Brittany replies, slipping in bed.

"I'm gonna shower." I mumble as I walk to the bathroom and step in the shower right away, sitting down on the ledge we have in there and letting the hot water wash over me.

* * *

 **8:00am**

"Mr. Davis, you are late." I say sternly, glancing at my watch as her runs in the classroom, interrupting my lesson. "Where is your late slip?"

"I'm like two minutes late."

"Go to the office and get a late slip." I reply, pointing to the door.

"Seriously Mrs. P?" He groans.

"Yes." I nod. "Early is on time, on time is late, and late...well have a late slip with you." I shrug.

"Fuck this shit." He snaps, kicking my garbage can over.

I raise an eyebrow at him and suck my bottom lip in my mouth before smiling and walking over to my desk. This is how I know I've grown as a person because the old Santana would have slapped the respect back in his mouth, but I am an adult, a mother, and a teacher, so I count to ten as I walk over to my desk and I scribble out a pink slip, tearing the top copy off, and handing it to him. He snatches it and crumbles it up, throwing it at me before leaving the classroom, slamming my damn door.

"Now, where were we." I clear my throat, picking up my garbage can and tossing the pink slip on the desk. I nod to my TA, who knows to call security for me to find the student. Winston Davis, is one of the top five pricks in this school. He's a trust fund baby, his dad donates millions of dollars to the school, so this little asshole thinks he can do whatever the hell he wants. He's captain of the basketball team, and thinks he's captain of the damn school, but guess what...not in my damn classroom. Late is late.

"That was fucked up Mrs. P." A student yells quickly. "Winston is a jerk, I'll kick his ass later for you."

I'm writing on the chalkboard and turn around with a small smile. "Thank you Kevin, but not necessary, keep your hands to yourself." I say quickly.

"Yeah, it wasn't cool." Clarence adds, one of my favorite students.

I erase the board and grab a piece of pink chalk and write the word respect on the board in all caps, underlining it. "Let's do a life lesson today, let's talk about this word." I smile, hopping on my desk, and crossing my legs.

I think I know how to switch up my curriculum while staying in compliance with the board.


	6. Chapter 6

"This is so relaxing." I sigh as I lean my head back and exhale deeply. Santana came home from work in one of the best moods I've seen her in…probably in years. She walked in the door singing and danced her way to me holding a huge bouquet, while handing Emery a pink lily. She took the family out to dinner, which is a little odd for us during the week, but we had a great time. Afterwards we did a little shopping, finally getting Emery to decide on a Halloween costume for trick or treating. Santana, who hasn't been into wearing a costume for the past five years or so, said she would buy a pair of butterfly wings or something simple for herself, while I debated on if I would get a costume or not this year. We are just hanging out at home with the kids, Quinn, Rachel, Mercedes, and I think Tina after trick of treating, so really no reason to get a costume, but I might change my mind.

When we got home from dinner we did the night routine with Emery, who went right to bed, tired from the long day. I was setting out Emmy's clothes for the pumpkin patch, wanting to make sure it was something we didn't mind her getting super, super dirty, and it was festive as well. When I got back to our bedroom, where I was going to suggest watching a movie to Santana, but I was met with a trail of rose petals leading to the bathroom, where she ran a huge bubble bath for us to relax in together.

One of the best features in our house is the master bathroom, it was honestly the selling point for us as well. We have a huge Jacuzzi tub, which is a dream. When I booked a photoshoot with Vogue a few years ago we used that money to enhance the bathroom, and got the tub, the counters, and the shower done in white, tan, and pink marble. It's so beautiful. So here we are relaxing together, facing each other in the tub. Santana is massaging my left foot, while soft jazz music in the background.

"Wasn't dinner good?" Santana asks.

"So good." I nod. "What made you try that restaurant?" I ask her.

"Austin suggested it at work today, I was talking to him and Belise, and I mentioned I wanted to take you and Tink out to dinner, and he said he took his wife and kids there a month ago, and they all enjoyed it." She replied. Austin is one of Santana's best friends from NYU, they were in the education program together, and remained good friends after graduating. He just got hired at Westchester Prep last year, after Santana put in a good word for him, so she was so excited when we got hired. We hang out with him and wife, and his adorable daughters from time to time.

"Tell him thank you." I laugh softly. "How was work?" I ask her, lifting her leg and kissing her foot before setting it back down and rubbing her leg under the water.

"Amazing." She replies right away, her smile lighting up the bathroom. "I haven't been this excited about teaching in a while, Brit." She nods. "Well, I had a run in with a kid, fuckin entitled douche, but it gave me a new approach on how to get through this semester. I just feel rejuvenated now, like really excited to wake up and go to school tomorrow, totally jealous you get to hang out with Emery at the pumpkin farm, but still excited. I might even wear an orange dress."

I smile at her because she does look super happy and way lighter mentally than she did the past two weeks. "So are you changing your curriculum?" I ask her.

She shakes her head and reaches for my other foot. "Nope, I just am going to try a different approach with the kids, I'm young, right, only 30, my students are all just a little more than ten years younger than me, I need to try to relate more to them, not that I can't already, but when I first started teaching one of the biggest pieces of feedback I got from parents was that their kids said I was the most relatable teacher. So I just needed to get out of my own way when I'm teaching.

"I'm proud of you." I wink at her, before wading my way over to her and straddling her, wrapping my arms around her neck, her arms now squeezing and massaging my butt. "I knew you were in a funk, but I also knew you would get out of it. You're a brilliant teacher, you know that, I don't know if it's self doubt, or just a lapse in confidence, but Mrs Santana Piece-Lopez, head of the English department at Westchester Prep is the best teacher I know, and I know everything about everything." I add with a wink.

"Thanks for being patient with me." She smiles before leaning forward and pressing our lips together. "Ready to get out." She smirks, kissing down my collar bone. "So I can show you how appreciative I really am."

I blush and step out of the tub quickly, Santana jumping out right after me, as I pull her to the bedroom.

* * *

 **6am**

I slept great last night, and not just because Santana gave me three orgasms, mainly because Santana seems to be at peace again. I know this will sound corny and sappy, but when Santana isn't okay, then I'm not either. Yes, we are _that_ married couple. So when she came home in a great mood, it automatically lifted my mood as well. Usually I wake up before Santana, even though I start work after her, she loves her sleep. So when I woke up this morning to an empty bed it shocked me, but I saw the index card with her lipstick mark laying on her pillow and blushed, It's something that she does if she wakes up before me, she's never really said why, but I love it. She doesn't only leave them when she wakes up first but sometimes she'll leave in the darkroom in the basement or in my purse, the office…I've never questioned her, or even asked her why she does it.

After getting dressed in an orange and white striped sweater, and a pair of ripped jeans, with brown leather knee high boots I make my way downstairs for a much needed cup of coffee and am immediately met with Emery running and jumping in my arms.

"Good morning." She says sweetly as I lift her and hug her tightly, kissing all over little face.

"Good morning, baby girl." I smile at her, setting her down as she runs back to the table and climbs in her seat.

"This totally isn't fair." Santana pouts as I walk deeper in the kitchen where she is setting breakfast down for Emery, pumpkin shaped pancakes, well Santana's attempt at pumpkins.

"Good morning." I beam as I walk over to her and hug her tightly, pulling her in to a deep kiss, moaning lowly.

"Good morning." She whispers back, looking deep in my eyes.

"What totally isn't fair?" I ask her, grabbing a plate and sitting down at the table, pouring a little syrup on Emery's pancakes for her.

Santana walks over to the table with a plate of her own and sits down. "That you two get to play at the pumpkin farm all day, and I have to work."

"You come mommy?" Emery asks with a big smile.

I stare at Santana and I can tell she's inwardly debating on skipping work, so I shake my head at her quickly. "We'll see mommy after school when we paint our pumpkins and go trick or treating." I say quickly.

Santana rolls her eyes playfully and nods. "After school we'll get all dressed up and go gets lots and lots of candy."

"I talked to my mom and she said not to buy candy, her and my dad are bringing candy over to pass out themselves." I explain.

"Cool." Santana nods, glancing at her watch. "I gotta get going." She stuffs her pancake in her mouth and jumps up, walking quickly to the sink. I stare at her body, in her the burnt orange sweater dress she has on, that's extremely fitted to her, showing off every curve. She has on knee high black heel boots, her hair is down and framed around her face, and she's wearing her glasses right now, and fuck, she looks so damn good. She grabs her black blazer off the back of a chair and puts it on, before kissing all over Emery's face, and fixing her ponytail, and kissing her on the lips. "Bye ladies." She winks as she grabs her briefcase and heads to the door.

* * *

"You were so awesome today." I tell Emery, lifting her out of my Jeep.

"We got all the pumpkins!" She exclaims happily.

"We sure did, mommy is going to love these." I tell her, handing her two of the small pumpkins we got to carry to the house. I then grab the bag of bigger pumpkins and position them around the front of the house before grabbing the bag of other smaller ones to position inside the house.

"Careful..." I tell Emery when I see her trip over the step.

"I'm okay." She nods, continuing to jump up and down the step. I watch her continue to play and entertain herself while grabbing more decorations out of my cargo area.

I had the most amazing day at the pumpkin farm with Emery, she is such an amazing kid, she showed me off to all her friends, and wouldn't let my hand go for any reason. We went on tractor rides, through a corn maze, drank warm apple cider, and had a scavenger hunt, and yes I'm tired, but it was so worth it to see the smile. Being around kids and seeing their natural enthusiasm and happiness is so infectious. I found myself smiling the whole time, and couldn't stop. Emery is so popular too, all the little girls and a lot of the boys all just flocked to her, or would come and show her their pumpkins to get her approval, it's hilarious yet cute, Santana would have loved to see that and would be so proud. I took so many pictures and sent them to her all day, she would text me back inbetween her classes with tons of emojis, and I FaceTimed her during her lunch, so she was on the hay ride with us.

I'm repositioning the spider webs on the trees out front. when I her someone walking up slowly yet loudly. "Arrgggggghhh matey!" I raise an eyebrow and turn around as Santana walks over to me with a big smile, dressed as the sexiest pirate I have ever seen.

"Damn." I whisper as Emery jumps off the step and runs over to her.

"You a pirate!" She screeches happily as Santana lifts her in her arms and walks over closer to me, and kisses me hello. "We pirates together!"

"Yes we are." Santana winks at her.

"You have on a full costume." I laugh as she sets Emery down and we watch her run and grab the pumpkin she picked out especially for her mommy.

"Yeah, I know how important this is to you, and I knew emery would be excited." She smiles.

"Thank you." I nod.

"Look mommy!" Emery says loudly, trying to pick up the biggest pumpkin. "We got a big one!"

"Whoa, leave it there, Tink, I'll come to you." Santana tells her, walking over.

* * *

 **9pm**

Trick or treating has been a success, Santana got me a pirate costume as well, so we were a crew of lady pirates, which Emery absolutely loved. She made sure to tell every single house that both her mommies were pirates, as if they couldn't tell by our costumes, but since Santana walked around with her own bucket to get candy, maybe, just maybe they were confused she might be her sister and not mommy. Not only did my thirty year old wife literally trick or treat but she also took her time and sifted through each bowl at various houses to make sure she got the candy she wanted. I caught Emery trying to copy her and shook my head, telling her to say thank you with a big smile and accept whatever the lovely people gave them, and if her mommy wanted to be a brat with the candy, we would be big girls and accept what we were given. Santana rolled her eyes at my little speech and continued digging through the bucket, ignoring Quinn's teasing.

Emery and Preston both racked up enough candy to last them a lifetime, and were now both bathed and sound asleep in Emery's bed, tired out from battling and trading Santana for candy. Once we all got back to the house Santana had the three of them pour all their candy in piles and they traded and switched. It was honestly cute, Preston noticed Santana giving him life savers for Snickers and gave this amazing little speech about being fair. Santana apologized and told him his vampire make up looked like Quinn's face in the morning before giving him a hug. It was a cute little mess of a situation to watch. Now with the kids in bed, and us finally out of our costumes we are all lounging around in sweats and t-shirts, ready for our girls night which I'm guessing with turn into a sleepover with the amount of liquor we have.

"I love what you've done with the house." Rachel beams as she carries a veggie tray in the living room and sets it on the table.

"You say that _every_ time you come over here, Berry, we get it." Santana rolls her eyes and plops on the couch next to me, a beer in her hand, while handing me a vodka and sprite, a splash of cranberry juice in it.

"So, we telling ghost stories or what?" Mercedes asks as Quinn yawns and stretches, getting comfy in the oversized recliner we have in the living room.

"What about sex stories?" Santana suggests, causing me to roll my eyes. Santana can be so nosey yet defensive all that the same time.

Rachel pours a glass of vodka, squeezing fresh lime juice in and smiles. "So are we going to talk about you two finally admitting you had sex?" She says looking at Santana.

Santana raises an eyebrow. "Not a secret that Brit and I have sex, we are married." She laughs, "are you drunk already?"

"Not you two," Rachel shakes her head. "You two." She adds, pointing to Quinn and Santana.

"Wait...what?" Mercedes sits up quickly. "Bullshit, when?"

Quinn sighs heavily, locking eyes with Santana, who shrugs. "Brittany already knows, I told her." She replies. "Yes, Q and I had sex after Miss Pillsbury ran out on Mr. Shue at their wedding, Quinn and I fucked." She shrugs again. "We were drunk, I was feeling a kind of way after seeing Brittany and Sam all happy and dancing around, Q looked great in her dress, so I hit that."

I shift, not because I'm uncomfortable, since I know Quinn and Santana's history, and I trust her more than anything, I know it was just a period in her life; but because I can feel Santana sinking her nails in me, while she holds my side tightly. I lean over and kiss her on the cheek, letting her know to relax.

"It was a couple of months, where I would catch the train to New York to see Santana, she would come down to see me, we would have sex the entire weekend, and not talk during the week." Quinn adds. "It was perfect for me, allowed me to still focus on school, and have amazing sex."

"Brit..." Mercedes looks to me right away.

"I wasn't a part of Santana's life at that time, we both have a past, hers includes Quinn, it is what it is." I add, taking a sip of my drink and reaching for a chicken wing. "We are each other's future."

"Poetic as shit, but you have to feel some kind of way." Mercedes presses.

"I honestly don't, Quinn is married, we are married, it's the past." I add again.

"Right, Quinn was just a good fuck at the time." Santana adds.

"Fuck you." Quinn rolls her eyes.

"Not anymore." Santana winks, blowing her a kiss.

"Well...what does Sully think about this?" Rachel asks.

"He doesn't know." Quinn says quickly, "and he won't, so keep your big mouth shut."

Santana raises her eyebrow at Quinn before snuggling close to me. "You never told Sully?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Why would I?"

"It's a part of your past." Santana frowns. "If Sully can't accept how you are, all of you, a bisexual woman, then fuck him."

"Drop it Santana." Quinn huffs, standing up. "I get it, you and Brittany don't like my husband, fine, whatever, but I don't need to hear about it all the damn time." She adds walking to the bathroom and slamming the door.

"Thanks Rachel." Santana rolls her eyes, she kisses me deeply, a sign of respect to me, before she follows after Quinn to check on her.

I take a sip of my drink and go check on Emery and Preston.


	7. Chapter 7

As usual Rachel ruins what was supposed to be a super chill and fun girls night, so annoying, and this is why I told Brittany not to fuckin invite her but whatever. Yes Quinn and I messed around, but that was over ten years ago and lasted for maybe three months, it wasn't serious, neither one of us even talks about it, we never brought it up once it ended either. I don't want to call her a notch in my bedpost, out of respect for our friendship, well let's call a spade a spade. I told Brittany everything that happened with us as soon as she came back into my life, I didn't want her to find out or hear about it from anyone else before she heard from me, not even from Quinn. She was really cool about the situation, which shocked me, but that's when I realized how much Brittany had truly matured. We had a very open and honest conversation about it, she asked me was it truly over between us, I told her yes, and I meant it, we never looked back, until now apparently.

Before I chase after Quinn, I kiss Brittany, a silent way of letting her know that she's still my number one girl, always and forever. I glare at Rachel and head to the bathroom where Quinn is, knocking softly on the door before pressing my ear to the door. "Are you pooping?"

"Go away Santana." I hear Quinn sigh, before flushing the toilet and turning on the faucet to was her hands. I lean against the wall and wait for her to come out. "What?" She frowns as she opens the door.

"I don't hate Sully, you know that. I introduced you two, remember?" I tell her.

"No you didn't." Quinn rolls her eyes.

"Okay, I didn't, but I went with you while you stalked him around the bookstore." I shrug. "If I didn't like your husband I would tell you, I wouldn't have been your maid of honor in your wedding, I wouldn't have thrown you that kick ass bridal shower or bachelorette party, and I wouldn't get you an anniversary gift ever year babe, do I think he can be an ass, of course, but he makes you happy, and he's a good daddy to Preston. I'll talk to Brit and we'll lay off of him, okay?"

"Thank you." Quinn nods. "Sully can't and won't know about us, I'm not embarrassed about my past at all, but he just can't."

I stare at her before nodding. "Okay." I reply. "Want me to kick Rachel out?"

"No." Quinn laughs.

"Fine." I roll my eyes, "I was hoping you said yes."

* * *

 **2am**

Girls night, as usual, turns into a sleepover, with Quinn and Mercedes in the two guest rooms we have, since we have a five bedroom house, the fifth bedroom being our joint office. Rachel, who never stays over, left around midnight, which thank God, since she was getting on my last damn nerve. After checking on Emery and Preston, who were still sleeping peaceful in Emery's bed, her cuddled super close to Preston, which was so cute, I slip in bed with Brittany, who is tipsy and kiss her on the cheek.

"Hey..."

"Hey." I reply, opening my eyes.

She turns and snuggles close to me, hiding her her face in my neck. "I love you."

"I love you too, Brit." I smile. "Do you need to take an aspirin?"

She shakes her head. "Already took one." She mumbles as I tun and catch her lips in a soft kiss.

"Okay." I kiss all over her face before sighing. "Sorry that Rachel brought up me and Quinn." I tell her sincerely, turning so I can face her, she opens her eyes and stares at me, they are glossy so I can tell she's drunk, but not too too bad. "That shouldn't be thrown in your face like that, ever."

I watch her bite her bottom lip before she blinks a few times. "We both have pasts Santana, pasts that don't involve each other, there was a good three year span where I wasn't in your life and you weren't in mine. I'm not arrogant enough to think that you didn't have sex with any one, Sanny, do I wish it wasn't with Quinn, of course." She finally admits to me, which shocks me a little. "But it is what it is, you were super honest and upfront with it, you told me right away, and when i looked in your eyes and asked you was it finished, you didn't bat an eye when you told me it was. Quinn is one of your best friends, and I respect that, if I wasn't truly comfortable with it, you would know."

"Nothing at all has happened between us since then, B." I tell her. "I swear."

"You don't have to tell me that, I know, baby." She replies. "Is everyone settled for the night?" She asks.

"Yeah." I nod.

"Okay, let's get some sleep." She sighs, kissing me on the corner of the mouth, before dragging her lips over to my mouth and kisses me deeply. "You brushed your teeth." She laughs into the kiss. "You taste so good." She hums before kissing me again.

"Good night, B." I whisper when the kiss breaks.

* * *

 **Tuesday 10am**

"So you want to change the curriculum?" Dr. Marx, the dean of Westchester Prep asks me, narrowing his beady eyes at me. We've never truly gotten along, I think the fact that I'm so young bothers him, or threatens him even. I'm head of the English department, which means that I control the curriculum and I have to approve the books and different topics, in some cases, that teachers want to include during their semester. Now, you would think that once I make a decision, shit would be done...right? Nope. I have to run everything by Dr. Marx, who is a seventy five year old man, set in his ways, and wants the curriculum run a certain way. I get it, traditional teaching can be effective, sure, but I know first hand that lessons can be taught through other mediums as well.

"No, I just want a little more freedom within the department." I state confidently. "I plan on sticking to the curriculum we set in place this summer for the fall semester, but I have minor changes I want to make, which include skipping some books for my junior and senior classes and replacing them with something else."

"Mrs. Piece-Lopez, when we hired you it was understood by both you and the board that a certain curriculum would be adhered to." He states.

I sigh and lean back in the large leather chair I'm sitting in and bite my bottom lip. "I understand that."

"However, your students do post the highest scores and you get the best reviews of all of my teachers on staff." He says slowly.

"Dr. Marx when I was in highschool I got good grades, I was a cheerleader, I was popular, life was good for me as a teenager, but my grades when up higher when I joined the Glee club, our teacher taught us life lessons through song, now I don't want to sing to my students but I think introducing music and songs, song lyrics, will enhance my teaching a little bit more." I explain.

"Santana, I think you are a brilliant teacher, to be so young, you have really captured the essence of what it means to be a teacher and I both respect and admire that about you." He states. "So you have two days to give me a vague write up on what you plan to implement and I will look it over and see if I need to take it to the board."

"Thanks." I jump up quickly and shake his hand. "I'll have something to you right away." I smile brightly before leaving the office.

* * *

 **6pm**

"Dinner is almost done." Brittany pokes her head in the office and tells me.

I glance up from my laptop and nod. "Thanks." I say softly, going back to my typing.

I hear Brittany walk further in the office and feel her sit on the arm of the chair. "What are you working on that has you all holed up in here quietly, I know it can't be grading homework since you do that down in the living room when I cook usually."

Finishing up my thought I save the file and take a deep breath, leaning into Brittany's embrace, since she's massaging my shoulders. "I had a meeting with Dr. Marx today about having more freedom in the department, he wants me to type something up so he kind of knows what I'm doing, so I'm working on that." I reply.

I feel her kiss the top of my head before resting her chin there. "Can I read a little?"

"Sure." I scroll to the top of the page and let her start reading my synopsis. "I want to incorporate music more, not singing or anything, I don't want this to turn into McKinley, but I think dissecting song lyrics would be cool, especially for my junior and senior classes. I get that the freshman classes need to learn Shakespeare and read the Great Gatsby, but I think there are other ways to teach. Look how popular Hamilton is, super untraditional for Broadway, but it's working."

"This is really good." Brittany tells me, grabbing the mouse and scrolling down the page and reading a little more. "Are you having more of your teachers do this, or just you?"

"Just me for now, if it's super successful this year, then I'll implement more into next year's curriculum."

"Good job, baby, super proud of you." She tells me again, hugging me over my shoulders and kissing me on the cheek. "I'll have Emery come get you when dinner is ready."

"Thanks." I nod to her, picking up my inkpen and going over the checklist of points I wanted to include write up for Dr. Marx.

What seems like two minutes later but is actually half hour later Emery comes skipping in the office, a big smile on her face as she trots right up to me and climbs in my lap. "Hi mommy."

"Hey mija, what's up?" I ask her, cuddling her close in my lap, and rubbing her back when she turns and hugs me.

"Momma say we eat dinner now." She mumbles into my chest before sighing deeply and turning her head.

"Okay, can I hug you a little longer, you are getting so big and you won't always fit in my lap forever." I whisper to her.

"I can hug you more." She beams excitedly, squeezing me tighter. I always knew I wanted to be a mom and that i would be a great one. When Brittany and I first talked about starting a family, we both agreed we really only wanted one kid, wanting to devote our full attention to them. From the moment I knew I was pregnant I had this crazy connection with Emery, she would move so much when I would talk to her, if I was ever upset or sad about anything she would move and it would just instantly cheer me up. I did get a little postpartum after she was born, but Brittany was such a godsend and just an amazing person thorough the whole thing, and kept me afloat. Everything I do in life is for Emery, I love her more than anything in the world, and I truly live for her. I kiss the top of her head and stand up with her.

"How about we play a game with momma after dinner?" I suggest as we walk down the stairs to the kitchen were Brittany is setting the table.

"Momma we play a game tonight, mommy said." Emery says right away.

I laugh at her excitement and nod to Brittany. "I told her we can play a game after dinner, one round of Guess Who?"

"Ooooohhhhh, I can't wait." Brittany smiles, winking at Emery.

* * *

After dinner we kept our word and played a few games of Guess Who with Emery before bath and bed time, Brittany reading a story with her while I got back to work on outline for Dr. Marx. I'm assuming Brittany went to do some editing on a engagement video that she shoot earlier today. I'm so wrapped up in this outline that I don't even noticing my phone going off with text messages until I finally take a break from staring at the computer screen and take my glasses off, rubbing my face as I glance at my phone, and see a string of text messages from Mercedes. I glance at the time and decide to quickly call her back.

 _ **Hey Santana**_

 _Hey girl, sorry I missed your texts, I've been working all night_

 ** _No problem_**

 _So what's up?_

 ** _Wedding planning is stressing me out, you're my matron of honor, so do you mind meeting for lunch at my apartment this weekend, to help me sort out some of this stuff. I'm drowning._**

 _Of course, babe, I think Brittany has to work, so if so Emery will have to join us, but I'll bring an iPad or a video for her._

 ** _No worries if she comes._**

 _Okay, I'll check with Brittany then hit you up tomorrow to set up a time._

 ** _Thanks girl, talk to you later._**

 _Good night_

I save my document and email it to myself so I can do some work at school tomorrow during my prep period and head to the bedroom where Brittany is coming out of the bathroom, fresh from her shower. "Hey, I was wondering when you were coming to bed." She smiles, walking over to the bench at the end of the bed and sitting down to dry off more. I strip as I walk over to her and sit on her lap, once I'm naked as well.

"Sorry I missed shower time." I pout, kissing her softly on the lips. "Did you get a lot of work done tonight?" I ask her as she starts to kiss a trail down my neck, her hands gripping my butt firmly to pull me closer to her.

"Yes I did." She nods, leaning back so she can kiss me deeply. She stands up, holding me tightly to her body and turns around so she can lay me on the bed, laying flush on me immediately and kissing me. "I'll get back in the shower with you so I can clean you up." She winks, nodding for me to slide to the headboard, which I do, and sit up against it. She opens my legs into the splits and smiles before leaning flat on her stomach and getting comfortable, starting to lick me slowly.


	8. Chapter 8

"Thanks baby." I smile as Santana pulls my chair out for me at dinner. My parents insisted on taking Emery to an event at the museum, leaving us to have a lovely date night, followed by some much needed and welcomed _mommy and momma_ quiet time at home, since she's going to stay the night with them.

"You're welcome." She nods, walking around the table she takes her own seat and smiles brightly at me. "How nice is it to be able to go to a really nice restaurant for dinner, and not to have worry or wonder if they have a kids menu." She laughs softly, nodding a thank you when a waiter walks over and pours each of us glasses of water, placing a slice of lime in each.

"Amazing." I nod in reply quickly. When my mom called me this afternoon and asked if her and my dad could take Emery for the night I immediately began to foam at the mouth at the prospect of having a quiet night at home with Santana, lighting the fireplace, cuddling in front of it, and enjoying a bottle of wine with a large chicken, red onion, and mushroom pizza, extra cheese. But when I got home Santana was already sitting on the couch in a form fitting navy blue dress, with a pair of silver pumps, holding a single red rose and inviting me to dinner. I, of course, could never turn down the opportunity for a romantic dinner with my wife, so I'm willing to push our cuddle session back a little until after we eat dinner.

"How was work?" She asks with a sexy smile, gently brushing her hair out of her face.

"Good, taking pictures for winter sports team at a few high schools next week, so just working out that schedule, and pricing. I might need to hire someone else, we are getting swamped lately." I tell her. "I'll be super busy next week, just a heads up."

Santana takes a sip of her water and frowns slightly. "That's good, right?" She asks, cocking her head to the side.

"Yes, of course, but it's a little overwhelming right now too." I tell her. "My studio has really blown up in the past two years, we are getting so busy, I love it, but I don't want to spread myself too thin, and away from you and Emmy."

"Would you hire another assistant or a photographer?" She asks just as the waiter comes back and takes our order.

I wait for the waiter to leave before shrugging. "That the dilemma, another photographer would need to be salaried, but if I just get an assistant then I'm not really saving any time and really just creating more work for myself."

She nods and stares at me. "Well I guess now's not a good time to bring something up then."

I take a sip of my martini when the waiter sets it down and frown. "What's up?"

"I want to go back to school, and I was going to ask you what you thought about it, and if you thought we could afford it."

I freeze because that totally wasn't what I was expecting to hear from Santana. "School?" I ask her softly.

She nods as she sips her jack and coke. "I want to get my master's, maybe in psychology."

My face turns into a huge smile. "We'll find a way for this to work, baby."

"I don't want us to go into debt..." Santana shakes her head, taking another sip of her drink.

"We'll make this work." I assure her. "Don't worry, we can pull out our budget, and see what's what."

She nods, "well, let's just enjoy our date night, and worry about money and other logistics later."

I nod in agreement and smile at her. "You look damn good in that dress tonight." I wink.

* * *

"Mmmmm." I moan as Santana continues to kiss down my neck, her hands roaming my body while she straddles me.

"Perfect Saturday morning." She hums before connecting our lips together. We are down in the living room, the fireplace lit while it rains outside, very romantic. We came home after a marvelous dinner and shared a bottle of wine, laughing and talking like when we first got back together, the night ended with us having the most passionate and intense sex we've ever had before falling asleep right in front of the fireplace.

We woke up this morning from the thunder booming across the sky, Santana started a new fire before we made love again, I plan on eventually making us breakfast but I have to get my wife's lips off me in order to do that, and it isnt the easiest thing in the world when it feels as good as it does right now. I turn my head and rub our noses together before nudging her to kiss me. Once the long kiss breaks she stands up silently, grabbing a blanket from the couch and trotting to the kitchen, her hair a mess on her head, making her look so damn sexy. She comes back with a glass of orange juice and hands it to me after taking a sip.

"Thank you." I smile as she sits back down and looks around before digging in her purse, that's on the floor, and grabbing her phone out.

"You're welcome." She smiles as she glances up from her phone.

"This is why I'm so happy with how we did our wedding." She rolls her eyes.

"Mercedes freaking out again?" I ask her.

She nods and replies back quickly before setting her phone back down and crawling back close to her. "Yeah, I told her I'll stop over there tomorrow sometime, you need to do some work right?"

Wrapping my arm around her and kissing the top of her head I nod. "Yes I do."

"Okay, I can take Emery with me then."

"Will she get in the way?" I ask, knowing that Emery is a busy body, and loves to talk, and if Mercedes is stressing out about the wedding, I don't want her to get in the way.

"No, she'll be fine, I'll have her watch cartoons or something."

"Okay." I yawn before stretching. "My parents have Em until this afternoon at least, why don't we take a nap before I take out for brunch."

"Upstairs?" Santana askes, standing up and extending her hand to pull me up.

"Yes, I need a bed right now." I tell her quickly.

* * *

Today has been perfect, simply perfect, actually starting yesterday has been perfect. I feel guilty for enjoying our alone time as much as I did, but when you become a parent, your kid becomes your life and Emery is definitely our entire life, and more. So the freedom we got from our little 24 hour vacation from being moms was well deserved and much needed. We didn't even do any work, we were just Brittany and Santana, it felt like old times and I think rejuvenated our marriage a little. After going out to brunch, we came back home, since it was pouring raining and just relaxed around the house, we lounged the couch and watched tv, in and out of sleep. Santana has been super stressed with work, so I know she needed the down time, and enjoyed it as well. But our little honeymoon has come to an end, and as much as I enjoyed today, my heart grew in size when Emery called and said couldn't wait to come home and missed both Santana and me. I missed her too. Santana is watching a movie, and since I wasn't that interested in it I decided to get a head start on dinner when Santana walks into the kitchen, a huge smile on her face.

"Your parents just called." She says leaning against the doorframe.

"Okay..." I raise an eyebrow, putting out a bunch of carrots, reading to peel them when Santana walks over and stills my hands.

"Emery is staying with them again tonight, your dad bought an old fashioned popcorn machine, so they are having a movie night." She smiles.

"Seriously?" I laugh, knowing that popcorn is one of the ways to Emery's heart.

"I think your mom knows that we need this weekend. She _always_ seems to know when we need some time alone." She adds.

I laugh because she's right, as far back as I can remember my mom has always sensed when Santana and I just need a few hours to ourselves, I've been telling her how slightly tense things have been the past couple of weeks, and especially after Miami, so she probably planned this whole weekend. "So...what do you want to do tonight?"

"Road trip." She says softly. "Let's go to Philly."

"Philadelphia?" I ask, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah, we can go to that cute little bed and breakfast we love, just relax...we had sex all night and all morning, I mean, _I_ can definitely go for more, but we can get massages, relax in the jacuzzi." She adds, walking closer to me and wrapping her arms around my waist.

I think for a moment and know that what she's suggesting does sound extremely nice and relaxing, so I nod with a big smile. "How fast can you be packed?" I ask her.

"10 minutes." She says before turning and running upstairs quickly.

* * *

 **8pm**

"You are a genius." I tell Santana as we walk hand in and hand back to our room after getting massages. The first thing we did when we checked into the room was call Emery on FaceTime and talk to her, laughing at how excited and amazed she always when we video chat. Right away after that we booked massages right away and placed an order for room service, which we are expecting to be delivered any minute now. "This was such a good idea." I praise her.

Santana takes off her robe, and changes into a pair of red boy shorts and a white tank top, no bra, sits on the couch in the room and yawns. "Told you, fuck, massages always make me so damn tired." She grumbles, while rubbing her face.

"Facials in the morning?" I ask her, and smile when she sleepily nods. "You look so relaxed." I tease while walking to the door, penguin it for room service, and handing him a tip.

After eating our dinner, sea bass and asparagus for Santana, and a chicken and pasta dish for me, Santana did some reading, curled in the core of the couch, while I sat on the other end of the couch and browsed the internet on my iPad, looking over different articles that I have bookmarked and saved to read. I lift Santana's foot and kiss the bottom softly to get her attention, which it does.

"Hey..."

"Why psychology?" I ask her.

She sets down the book she's reading on her lap and shrugs. "I think it'll help me be a better teacher, if I know how the mind works and why different personalities formulate different theories and outcomes I can reach more kids. No two students are alike. I have two 4.0 students, both are brilliant, write some of the best essays, but the essays are completely different. They will argue the same point but it a complete different way, sometimes it's a struggle trying to reach all my students, I want and need to be the best teacher I can be. I want to do the extra work to make sure I know how to help every student to the best of my ability, reach their highest potential.

I lean forward and kiss her deeply. "Do you want to go for the spring semester, do you have a school picked out and everything?"

"I'm thinking NYU again." She replies. "Maybe take some night and online classes."

"Get all the information, and let's make this happen for you." I tell her.

"Are you sure?" She asks sitting up.

"Yes." I nod.


	9. Chapter 9

This past weekend was so relaxing and exactly what we needed before the rush of the holiday season. Going to Philadelphia is always so relaxing to us, we always stay at the same place and just hang out in the room the entire time. Emery called us that night, showing off Brittany's parents new popcorn machine, which I will admit looks extremely impressive, before Brit and I just relaxed and lounged around the room. I finished up a book while Brittany watched a new vlog from one of her favorite photography YouTubers. The next morning we woke up pretty early and headed straight to the Pierce's house where Emery was excitedly waiting for us.

We went to Quinn and Sully's place for a late lunch, so the kids could play for a few hours before I went to Mercedes' place to help calm her nerves about wedding planning, Emery, who fell asleep in the car on the way home from Quinn's, so I took her to Mercedes' place with me, so Brittany could get some work done. I ended up staying at Mercedes house until around 6pm, just in time to eat dinner and get Emery bathed and in bed for the night, so I could get more work done.

It's third period and I feel super energized even though I have a massive headache. I tried out a new teaching technique with my senior classes this morning and it went so well. The students were all energized, and super into the lesson, even the normally shy kids were raising their hands and participating, which in turn got me super pumped up too. My freshman class is currently taking a test, so I'm able to get a little more work done. Even though I already have a master's in education, I really want to go back to school for my master's in psychology, and Brittany being completely on board is amazing, but I know that we might not be able to afford to pay out of pocket like I would prefer. Don't get me wrong, we make good money, but we have a mortgage, two car payments, utility bills, grocery bills, and a four year old's future to think about. Not to mention Brittany is a business owner, so while she makes good money, she also has a lot of overhead expenses she has to cover, as well. Even though it's something I really, really want to do, I know we need to be practical with it and that includes really seeing if it fits our budget.

As I'm going over our budget, factoring in a couple extra thousand for Brittany's work, a few hundred for Emery, in case of her suddenly growing like two feet and needing all new clothes, and a couple of hundred for my own career expenses I see that we might be able to pull this off comfortably. I'm getting ready to email Brittany a mock write up of our budget when when I hear sniffling and glance up. I notice Ashlyn, one of the most shy freshmen ever. I raise an eyebrow before locking eyes with my teaching assistant, who simply shrugs at me, causing me to roll my eyes at them. I slip my papers in a folder and stand up, shooting out my black pencil skirt and walk to the middle of the third row, where her desk is. I see her test is wet from tears and place my hand on her shoulder, startling her.

"Ashlyn, is everything okay?" I whisper, kneeling down. "Donovan, focus your test." I say quickly when I see him look over.

Ashlyn shakes her head no and wipes her eyes quickly. "No." She mouths.

"Follow me." I grab her test and nod for her to grab her backpack, after settni8g her test face down on my desk I step out in the hall, thinking about what could possibly be wrong, Ashlyn steps out right after me and immediately hugs me tightly, sobbing in my chest. It takes me by surprise but I hug her back and walk her down to a small office at the end of the hall, swiping my ID to unlock the door. I open the blinds slightly, school policy when we are alone with a student and motion for her to sit on the couch.

"Sorry Mrs. P." She shakes her head, wiping her eyes quickly and harshly. I stare at her, conflicted on exactly how I should comfort her. If it were Emery I would have her in my lap and kissing her tears away, but I _know_ I can't do that, so I place my hand on her back again, rubbing some soothing circles.

"What's going on?" I ask her, handing her a tissue.

"I just have a lot going on at home and I'm not prepared for the test." She shakes her head. "I have to keep a certain GPA or I'm going to lose my scholarship."

I suck my bottom lip in my mouth and nod. "Do you want to talk about what's going on at home?" I clear my throat. "Are you unsafe at home?"

She looks up quickly and nods at me. "I'm safe Mrs. P."

I sigh in relief, because I honestly don't know how I would even begin to process or handle if she said she wasn't. Why don't you hang out in here the rest of the period, get yourself together, and make up the test after school tomorrow." I tell her, standing up. "My office is always open Ashlyn, okay?"

"Thanks." She nods, wiping her face again.

* * *

I'm relaxing on the couch after work, watching a video on Youtube of this professor I've become obsessed with, he does all these unconventional ways of teaching and he posts his daily classes, Brit thinks I'm a nerd for watching them, but I can't help it. I put dinner in the oven, just a chicken to roast with some vegetables. Brittany picked up Emery from school and took her with her while she ran some errands so they aren't home until around 6pm. I can barely get my ipad down on the table when Emery jumps in my lap and hugs tightly.

"Preston got a turtle!" She shrieks happily. "He green and hide in his shell!" She explains as I kiss the top of her head and hug her tightly

I glance up at Brittany as she leans down and kisses me softly to say hello. "A turtle?" I ask with a smile.

Brittany nods and sits on the couch next to us. "Smells good in here." She says, picking up the mail from the coffee table and thumbing through it.

"Chicken is in the oven." I reply to her. "So what's the turtle's name?"

"Hedwig!" Emery nods proudly, as if she named him herself.

I raise an eyebrow as a huge smile covers my face. "Like from Harry Potter?"

"I don't know." She shrugs before picking up my hand and playing with my apple watch. "We get a turtle like Preston?"

"You really want a turtle?" I ask her with a smile, glancing at Brittany who shrugs while laughing. "What about a fish?"

Emery shakes her head firmly.

"Ummmm, what about a kitten?" Brittany suggests. "They are super low maintenance, which is a plus for us, and they are soft, you can play with a kitten, Emmy, you can't play with a turtle."

"Preston play with him turtle." Emery says sternly.

"Well, how about we go to the pet store and talk to someone about a pet turtle, then we can go see about some kittens, and you can pick which one you want."

"Preston got a turtle." She repeats.

I roll my eyes and kiss the top of her head before setting her back on the floor. "Can you take your backpack upstairs and put it away in your bedroom."

"Okay."

I watch her scoop up her backpack and run upstairs before turning to Brittany. "How was work?"

"Long." She sighs, yawning and laying on my lap. I run my fingers through her hair before rubbing her side. "How was your day?"

"Okay...I think a student is in trouble." I tell her.

She sits up because of the seriousness of my voice and faces me. "In trouble how?"

"Ashlyn, one of the most shy students in the whole school broke down during a test today, her test was covered in tears, I too her out in the hallway and she started to sob while clutching to me, so I took her to an office to help her calm down in private...it felt off Brit." I shake my head. "It bothered all day, I couldn't really focus."

Brittany chews on her bottom lip and grabs my hand. "You're shaking." She whispers, rubbing my hand between hers to relax me. "Did you ask her what was going on?"

"I asked her if she was safe at home." I nod quickly.

"What did she say?"

"She said yes, so I just left her in the office to get herself together and told her she could take a make up test after school tomorrow." I shrug.

Brittany stares at me. "You think you should have done more?"

"I don't know." I reply. "Ive never had to deal with this with a student, I feel lost."

"Keep an eye on her tomorrow at school, see if she looks differently or behaves differently, maybe she did just a stressful morning." Brittany says softly. "Stress makes people cry."

"Yeah...but this was a sob." I shake my head. "I just have a bad feeling about it" I blink out tears for some reason and curl into Brittany she scoots over and hugs me tightly.

For some reason I start to cry, like really cry and it scares me a little, so I sit up quickly and wipe my eyes. "You're an amazing teacher, you're so invested in your students, so I know you are going to figure this out, and if something is indeed wrong, you'll get other bottom and make sure everything is okay. Don't get yourself all worked up, it honestly could be just a bad day for her, but it's good that you're cautious."

I nod and exhale deeply. "This is the part of teaching that scares me, I mean, if it were Emery, I would just hold her and kick whoever's ass made her cry, but I can't do that it. I'm more scared of my temper and how I'll react if its something deeper. I love my students, so much."

"I know, but promise me you'll stay calm." Brittany pleased.

"I promise." I nod. "I better finish dinner." I add, standing up as Emery comes running back down the stairs with a coloring book and her bag of crayons. "Don't run on the stairs, Tink, I don't want you to fall."

* * *

 **Midnight**

Brittany finally comes up to bed after doing some work in the dark room and then in the office, she takes a shower and comes out of the bathroom naked, causing me to sit up in bed and toss the magazine I was reading on the floor.

"Hey." I smirk as she slips in bed and begins kissing down my neck, her hand slipping under my tank top. Turning my head to kiss her she moans into my mouth and allows me to flip her over.

"Hey..." She winks as she slips my tank top over my head and tosses it on the floor. I'm slipping my panties off when my work cell phone rings, causing me to roll my eyes, since its probably a fellow teacher asking me to cover a class for them tomorrow. "Answer your phone." Brittany laughs softly when i groan. "I'll be here when the call ends."

I deepen the kiss before reluctantly breaking it and reach for my phone.

 _ **Santana Pierce-Lopez speaking...**_

 _Mrs. P?_

I sit up and run my fingers through my hair quickly, sweeping it to the side.

 _ **Hello? Ash-Ashlyn?**_

 _I know you have an open call policy with your students...and you said if we ever need anything..._

Brittany sits up and stares at me, worry covering her face as I jump up and look for clothes to put on.

 _ **What's wrong honey?**_

 _Can you come get me? I need a ride?_

 ** _Of course, text your address...I'm on the way right now. Let me just find some shoes to put on._**

Brittany jumps up and grabs a pair of shoes for me out of the closet, tossing me a pair of sweats to put on as well, as I grab the sweatshirt off he floor from the side of the bed.

 _Thanks_

 ** _Are you somewhere safe?_**

 _Please just hurry._

 ** _I'm on the way. i promise._**

"I gotta go get Ashlyn." I tell Brittany tossing my phone on the bed and putting on the sweats she got for me, slipping on my Uggs.

"What's going on?" Brittany asks, putting on a pair of yoga pants and a tshirt herself.

"I don't know, but you now I have a open call policy for my students..."

"I know, babe." Brittany nods. "I'll wait up for you, or do you want me to have Mrs. Keith from next door come watch Emmy? I don't want you going alone, especially if it's dangerous."

I stare at Brittany and debate internally. "If she's awake and available, then yes, otherwise I need to get a move on." I nod.

Brittany slips on a sweatshirt and converse before looking out the window and seeing Mrs. Keith's lights still on. She's out neighbor, a seventy year old African American widow, she she has seven grandkids, that's she's so cute and proud of, and she babysits Emery for us sometimes, so we trust her to come in the house. "She's up, so I'll run over, put the address Ashlyn texted you in your maps." She says as she runs out of the bedroom, probably to head next door.


	10. Chapter 10

"This is our home, you can stay here tonight." I say softly, glancing at Brittany, locking eyes with her before turning to look at Ashlyn in the back seat of my Jeep. She nods slightly, fresh tear stains on her check, that she immediately wipes away.

"Thanks, Mrs. P." She whispers.

"I'll go get Emmy." Brittany states, "while you get Ashlyn settled in a guest room."

"Okay." I hop out of my Jeep and walk over to Brittany's side of the car, kissing her quickly before opening the door for Ashlyn, since we have child locks on for Emery.

We slowly walk to the house, and I unlock the door, nodding for Ashlyn to walk in first, I quickly deactivate the alarm and toss my purse on the couch, walking through the living room and turning on some lamps, a million thoughts running through my head, I hear Brittany close the front door and her activate the alarm, which brings me back to reality. She walks over to me, Emery still asleep on her shoulder and lets her kiss all over her face before silently walking her up to bed.

"Relax, honey." I tell Ashlyn. "Do you want water or anything?"

"No thank you." She shakes her head right away.

"Okay, well you are welcome to stay here tonight, like I said before, come on up...I'll show you to a guest room." I smile, running my hands through my hair after pulling my high bun down.

Brittany walks into the guestroom I'm in, and sets down fresh towels, and a pair of yoga pants and a tshirt. "Here are of some of Santana's pajamas to sleep in." She smiles. "Is there anyone at all we can call or?"

"No." Ashlyn shakes her head.

"Okay, well sleep tight." Brittany smiles warmly, leaving the room to one, give Ashlyn some privacy, and two, give me a chance to talk to her since I actually know her, and she might be more comfortable talking if Brittany isn't around.

"T-thank you." Ashlyn replies.

I stare at Brittany, who winks at me, as she walks out of the room and closes the door. I take a seat on the bed next to her and suck my bottom lip in my mouth while I carefully think of my words. "Thank you for trusting me enough to call me, I know I'm just a teacher, but I want you all to be able to trust me. Just like in my office, that is a confidential zone, so is tonight." I explain. "I have to ask again, are you sure you aren't in danger?"

"Positive, Mrs. P." Ashlyn nods.

"Who's house did I pick you up from?" I ask her.

"My aunt's." Ashlyn answered.

"Okay." I nod to her. "I see you have a bag, is that your school uniform?" I watch her nod and stand up. "There is an attached bathroom, you can get cleaned up and try to get some sleep. I'll drive you to school in the morning, but I get there pretty early. I'll wake you up for breakfast."

She smiles weakly as I stand up to leave the room, she jumps up quickly and hugs me tightly. "Thank you so much."

I hug her back and nod. "You're welcome, Ashlyn."

After closing the door I head to Emery's room and sit on the edge of her bed and stare at her. Counting her breaths, staring at the red birthmark on her right shoulder, admiring how long her eyelashes are, and I get overcome with emotion picturing Emery being at someone's house needing help the way that Ashlyn is at ours. "I love you so much, Em, you have no idea, baby." I whisper to her, while rubbing her little back before pulling her cover up a little higher and quietly leaving the room.

Once I reach our bedroom Brittany, who is starting at her cell phone sits up straight and tosses her phone to the side. "Everything okay?"

"I really don't know, I couldn't get anything out of her." I shrug, taking off my sneakers and pulling my pants off, reaching for a pair of pajama shorts. I walk to the bathroom, wash my face, and brush my teeth. I toss on a tank top and just leave my hair down instead of my usual top knot bun to go to sleep. As I walk out of the bathroom I see Brittany standing with open arms, ready to me...and I collapse in and sigh deeply.

* * *

 **5:30am**

Last night was crazy, I didn't get much if any sleep at all. I laid in Brittany's arms, in and out of sleep, tossing and turning before I finally just out of bed so I wouldn't wake up Brittany. I sat in the corner of the love seat in our bedroom and just looked out at the sky, wondering what could be wrong, and also crafting my response if the fact that I let a student stay at my house got back to the school board. It shouldn't be a problem, since this was an emergency...but I just need to be sure. I see Brittany start to stir in her sleep as she starts to wake up, she looks so adorable as she stretches and sits up, looking around the room for me I'm assuming, before her eyes focus on me to the side.

"Good morning." She yawns out.

"Good morning." I reply.

"Did you get any sleep?" She asks, standing up and stretching deeply before walking towards me and sitting down next me, wrapping her arms tightly around and resting her head on my shoulder.

"A little."

I feel Brittany nod before taking a deep breath. "You won't get in trouble at school for having a student stay here will you?"

I shake my head while shrugging. "I don't think so, it was just a one off occasion, but I'm going to cover my basis, don't worry."

45 minutes later I'm dressed in a pair of high waist black slacks, a white silk blouse, and a pink, purple, and grey argyle cardigan sweater over. Since I was up earlier than normal I curled my hair and pinned it to the side. I opted against my contacts, since my eyes hurt anyways and put on my black framed RayBan glasses, with a pair of black pumps. As I'm leaving the bedroom I hear Brittany getting Emery ready, and knock softly on the guestroom Ashlyn stayed in.

"Come on down for some breakfast before we leave, Ashlyn." I say through the door before heading downstairs and putting on a pot of coffee.

I quickly make some scrambled eggs, sausage, and toast for everyone, and grab the fruit salad out of the fridge for Emery, just as Ashlyn comes in, looking a lot better than she did last night.

"Good morning." I smile to her. "Grab something to eat...I know some of you kids drink coffee, so help yourself." I add. "I'll be right back." I call over my shoulder as I jog upstairs to grab my watch and put it on. I'm gone for literally 2 minutes but when I get back downstairs I hear Emery asking poor Ashlyn a million questions.

"You mommy friend?" "You momma friend?" "You like pancakes?" "Why you here?" "You stay forever?"

"Emery, eat your breakfast." Brittany says softly.

"Momma, she my friend?" Emery asks as I walk in the kitchen.

"Good morning Miss Emery, please leave Ashlyn alone." I add.

"She your friend?" She asks me again, staring at Ashlyn, who laughs softly.

"Si, baby, she's my friend." I nod to get her to finally stop asking questions.

"Sorry, Ashlyn." I tell her, glad to see that she's eating breakfast, with a glass of juice.

Ashlyn shrugs, "it's okay, I have a younger sister, so I'm used to it."

"She talk!" Emery says loudly, jumping out of her seat and pointing at Ashlyn.

"Emery..." I say warningly, she giggles and climbs back in her chair, quickly stuffing a piece of cantaloupe in her mouth.

"We're leaving in 5 minutes." I tell Ashlyn, walking over to Brittany and accepting the mug of coffee from her, kissing her softly on the lips.

* * *

 **Noon**

As soon as noon hits I practically run to my office and lock my door, taking off my heels and my sweater and sit on the couch and relax...I'm so fucking tired and just overwhelmed today. After taking a few moments to myself, doing some light meditating I grab my lunch out of my fridge and warm up my chicken alfredo, quickly opening a cherry Pepsi. I log into VH1 on my laptop and start to watch Love and Hip Hop while slowly eating when my cell phone rings, I roll my eyes because I was just getting into the show. I see that it's Brittany and answer right away.

 _ **Hey Brittany**_

 _Santana, how's work?_

 ** _It's okay_**

 _How are things with Ashlyn? Weird at all?_

 ** _No, I dropped her off a block away at a coffee shop, I guess she meets friends there before school. I saw her walking in the hallway, and I'll see her this afternoon in class._**

 _Oh, okay...you sound tired._

 ** _I am, I want nothing more than to go to sleep and take a quick nap during lunch, but I know it's a terrible idea, so I'm just watching tv. Enough about me, what are you up to today? Busy?_**

 _Not really, I'm at the studio right now, going over expenses and my appointments for the next week._

 ** _Are you working late tonight?_**

 _No, I'll be home right after picking up Emery, you up for going out to dinner tonight, or should I order something?_

 ** _Order something, that works fine for me. I need to finish working on this proposal tonight so I can turn it in soon, then get started on some new lesson plans._**

 _Okay, I'll probably be downstairs developing some film tonight, are you okay to keep an eye on Emmy?_

 ** _Yeah, I know she gets too antsy down in the dark room with you. I gotta go, babe, someone is knocking on my door. Love you_**

 _Love you, see you tonight_

I wipe my mouth and take a sip of soda before standing up and walking to the door, opening it and smiling at Ashlyn. "Hello Ashlyn, come on in." I step to the side and only close the door slightly, motioning for her to sit on the couch. "What's up?"

Ashlyn, who is looking even better than she did this morning, nods and takes a seat. "I just want to say thank you again for picking me up last night, I know teachers always say to call them and they are here for us, but you really don't know if they truly mean it, but you meant it. You really, and truly meant it. I won't like wear out your phone number or anything, so don't worry, and I won't randomly show up at your house like a creep either. It was just really cool what you did and I appreciate it. Here's a thank you card for you and your wife, and these are some colorful turtle stickers for Emery, she talked about turtles all morning, so I'm guessing she likes them. Oh, and fake tattoos too."

I smile and accept the envelope, flipping it around in my fingers before setting it down. "Thank you, yes Emery will love these." I chuckle. "When I tell my student to call me, I mean it, when I was in highschool I didn't have a teacher that I felt like I could call when I was trouble or anything like that, I mean I could call my cheerleading coach or glee club coach, but no. I'm here for you as your teacher, you know that." I nod to her. "Anytime you need help again, you have my number like all my other students, no questions asked, I'll come." I remind her.

"Thank you, again." She smiles politely and stands up. "My make up test?"

"Tomorrow after school." I state, reminding myself that I know need to create a new test for her. "Come right to my class after the bell and it'll be waiting for you." I nod, quickly jotting down a reminder to myself to make a test tonight.

She waves and leaves my office, so I once again knock the door and finish my lunch and tv show.

* * *

"Preston come over today?" Emery asks me as she climbs on the couch and cuddles close to me.

I'm typing on my laptop and shake my head, since my pen in my mouth. "Not today, Tink, maybe this weekend." I reply softly, glancing at her to see why she's moving so much before sticking the pen behind my ear and reaching for my mug of tea.

"He bring his turtle?" She asks.

"Nope." I shake my head. "Maybe we can ask Quinnie if you can go over to see the turtle instead." I reply, starting my typing again, since I'm trying to finish this proposal. "Do you want to watch a cartoon?" I ask her, hoping she says yes so I can put it on and finish up some work, since Brittany is downstairs working on some film. She did a black and white photoshoot for a twin toddlers this afternoon, that I'm actually super excited to see...it's a rush order so I know that she needs to focus so she doesn't make any mistakes, and that means our hyper four year old daughter needs to stay up here with me.

"You watch too?" She asks, standing and leaning on my shoulder.

"Yep, I'll watch while I work." I confirm to her, nodding with a smile.

She purses her lips at me but shrugs and reaches for the tv remote, turning to Netflix and scrolling through, loudly saying _not this one_ at least seven times before an excited yelp escapes her mouth and she starts to watch something that I just know is going to be loud and musical, and sure enough literally two minutes into the damn show a song starts, so I save my document and close my laptop, lifting Emery in my lap and just watch the show with her.

Twenty minutes later the door bell rings, and I know it's the Chinese food we ordered, so I grab my wallet and pay, handing Emery one of the bags to unload on the table while I jog down and get Brittany.

"Dinner is here, baby." I tell her, walking in the dark room and watching as she carefully hangs up some pictures.

"Okay." She nods. "Gimmie two seconds." She replies softly before quickly cleaning stuff up and following me out.

"Are you all done for the night?" I ask her, since I noticed she cleaned up everything.

"Yeah, with this stuff, I have some digital prints to edit, so I'll go in the office after Emery is asleep." She replies as she walks in the living room and we see Emery, holding a box of white rice, waiting patiently while watching her show. "Are we eating in here?" She asks me.

I cringe and shrug, but nod. "Yeah, I'll get some plates and utensils."

After everything is spread out and Emery is occupied, Brittany slides next to me on the floor and eats some of my lo-mein with a chopstick. "How is the proposal coming along?" She asks.

"Good!" I immediately perk up, while reaching over and cutting some noodles for Emery and moving her cup back to the table and off of the floor. "I just need to do a final check of it, then I'm going to present it to the board next week. I'm so excited B, I just know they are going to love this and that it will really help the students."

"Sweet." Brittany smiles. "I can't wait to read it."


	11. Chapter 11

"Come on, baby." I smile while opening my arms so Emery can jump out of the jeep and into them, hugging her tightly. "Ready to help me do some shopping?" I ask her, kissing her on the forehead and rubbing her back since it's pretty cold out.

"We get pineapple?" She asks, sweetly, resting her head on my shoulder.

I nod to her as I set her in the basket part of the shopping cart, flipping the seat belt around and strapping her to the back of the cart, since she likes to stand, and stuffing her mittens in my pocket. I hand her the ipad with our grocery list, complete with pictures she can help out in the produce department. "We'll get a pineapple." I assure her, her big brown eyes, looking up at me. "How was school."

"Good, we color with the brush today." She smiles brightly, looking up from the iPad.

I frown but nod in understandment a moment later. "Oh, you painted? Cool, was it fun?"

She nods quickly. "I color you a picture, and mommy a picture." She explains. "Mommy picture red, cuz her like red, and you picture orange."

"Whoa! I love orange." I tell her, "how did you know?" I ask, as I set shampoo and conditioner in the cart for Santana.

"You wear a orange shirt yesterday." Emery shrugs. "So I color yours orange."

"Gotcha." I smile. "Which toothpaste?" I ask her, stopping in front of the selection. Emery stares at the different tubes before reaching for a Paw Patrol tube and setting it down carefully. "Pick out a new toothbrush too." I tell her as I walk a litte ways down the aisle and grab new toothbrush heads for Santana and myself, setting them in.

We breeze through the store with Emery filling me in on her day, being her usual talkative self. I love when we have moments to ourselves like this, she has such a huge imagination and is great at story telling so we try to encourage it as much as possible. She's extremely detailed and descriptive, I feel like I was at school with her today. Santana is at school still, having to stay after for one of the clubs she is an adviser for and she had some other things to do at school, and said she would get more work done there, then home with our busy body daughter. She doesnt stay after work to just work usually, so I knew she had to be really swamped with stuff if she did.

I'm in the kitchen cooking dinner when I hear the front door slam, following by a loud groan, before the sound of high heels slamming to the ground. I head to see what the problem is, but I hear Santana talking softly to Emery, and decide to give them a moment, hoping a hug from baby girl and her new red picture will lift her mood.

"Emery's quite the artist." Santana says as she walks in the kitchen, and kisses me. "Hey."

"Hey, and yes she is." I nod, "she likes art, so I'm going to look up some classes for her to take outside of school." I watch Santana head to the cabinet where we keep liquor and pour herself a shot of bourbon, before sighing deeply and grabbing a beer out of the fridge, quickly opening it. "How was work?" I ask her over my shoulder.

She hops on the counter next to the fridge and shakes her head. "You first."

"Good," I reply, looking up from the sauce I'm making. "Landed a gig for this weekend in Chicago, engagement photos, then headed to Houston on Monday for a day trip for Christmas photos for their mayor."

"Congrats, I'm so proud of you, B." Santana smiles warmly, her eyes lighting up. "Can I come to Chicago with you?"

I frown because she never asks, it's just usually assumed she's coming, unless she has a ton of work or something to do for school. "Of course, I haven't booked a flight yet, do you want to bring Emery?" I ask her, because I get the feeling she needs a relaxing weekend to herself.

"Is it bad if I say not really, I'm off of work on Friday anyways, for math testing." She replies.

"Oh...did I know you were off?" I ask her, since I definitely would have remembered that.

She shakes her head, picking up a carrot from the tray next to her. "No, I was told today that they didn't need me to help with testing. So paid day off."

Turning the sauce down to simmer I walk over to her and stand between her legs, resting on her thighs. "How about I call my mom and ask her to pick up Emery Thursday night, and keep her through the weekend, and we can leave then, spend all Friday just relaxing in the city, you can help me work on Saturday, it'll be a quick shoot most likely, then you can head to Houston with me."

Santana raises an eyebrow at me but nods. "I'll schedule a personal day on Monday tomorrow."

"We can talk about your day tonight in bed, I can tell you didn't have the greatest day." I reply, leaning up and kissing her softly.

"I didn't, but I kind of don't want to talk about it, such a shit day, nothing terrible happened so nothing to really talk about; how about we just relax in a bath, some candles, music." She shrugs in reply.

I lean back and stare at her, looking deep in her eyes, while rubbing her thighs before hugging her tightly, and kissing her on the cheek. "That sounds great. Dinner will be done soon, why don't get out of your work clothes."

* * *

 **2am**

"Mommy." I hear softly, followed by a sniffle causing me to wake up before Santana does. I sit up quickly and lean over Santana, who groans but wakes up.

"What's wrong, Emmy?" I ask our daughter, as she wipes her tear stained face.

I lean over and lift her in the bed, rubbing her back as Santana sits up. "What's wrong?" She asks tiredly, she's been tossing and turning all night and just fell into a peaceful sleep not long ago.

"I had a scary dream." Emery sniffles again.

Santana yawns and frowns. "What was it about, Tink?" She asks, cuddling Emery in her chest, running her fingers through her hair. "A scary monster?" I watch Emery nod against her chest, so I get out of bed and go to our bathroom, grabbing her a little water. I hear Santana talking to her quietly before starting to sing to her. I give them a few minutes and just look at Santana, she's such an amazing mother. You can see the stress and fatigue all her face, but she's wide awake now and super focused on Emery, and I just see the love pouring out of her right now. I don't know what has her in such a funk today, but I know that our weekend getaway needs to be special and I plan on making sure she's completely relaxed.

"Here, baby girl." I say, walking back in the bedroom and handing Emery the cup so she can take a few sips.

"Lay down with mommy, and let's go to sleep." Santana yawns again.

"I can lay with her in her room, babe, you look exhausted and need to get some rest." I tell Santana, as she shuffles to slide down, letting Emery lay on her chest.

"It's okay." She shakes her head, pulling the cover over them and closing her eyes while rubbing Emery's back and humming softly to get her to relax.

* * *

 **Noon**

I smile happily after hanging up the phone from my mom, with her agreeing to watch Emery for the weekend, so Santana can come with me. So I might have told a little white lie that I needed Santana's help on the shoots, and that's why we needed her to come with me. And that Emery would just get in the way, we were almost derailed when my mom offered to come to watch Emery, and while we have used that option as well, I really just want some alone time with San. Emery might be a little disappointed, but we have a little Thanksgiving trip to a cabin up north planned so she'll get over it quickly.

While I love being my own boss and being able to make my own schedule, all while having my dream job...I hate _this_ part of my job; paperwork. I would much rather be out in the field, taking pictures, or on assignment, but someone's gotta do it, right? Staring at the stack of invoices I need to process and pay, and the stack of invoices that I need to send out I roll my neck around and decide to book our flights instead. I opt for a Thursday evening flight, so I can just pick Santana up from school and head to the airport. I'll have our suitcases and my camera equipment all packed and in the car so we can go straight from there. After booking our flights and getting us a hotel right on Michigan Avenue, so we are in close proximity to shopping, I order a gift for Emery of Amazon that'll be delivered to my parent's house Thursday afternoon for her when she gets out of school.

Even though Emery understands that I have to "go places" for my job, and sometimes mommy has to come help I can tell she still gets a little sad when we leave, and with this trip being so long and sudden I want to make sure she's okay with it, even though being spoiled by her grandparents will quickly soothe her little spirit. I want to call Santana and see how her day is going, but I know she mentioned she had to work through her lunch, and she was presenting the new curriculum to the dean of the school during her free period, which was unexpected today, so I'm wishing her luck and all things positive.

After staring at my paperwork for another twenty minutes I decide to go have some lunch and try to get some candid pictures hopefully. Packing up a camera and my backpack I hop in my Jeep and drive to a park that always has a bunch of food trucks, hoping for some street tacos and corn. Once I pull up I order and head back to my jeep, sitting in the cargo area, while people watching, which is always so awesome in New York. I immediately get an idea to take some picture of people doing random but ordinary things, and I plan on schmearing out their faces, kind of with hazy tone, like how they makes cars and people look like they are going super fast.

One thing I love about being a photographer too, is creating a story out of pictures, the one thing I've never done as a photographer is have a gallery night. I know Santana wants to go back to school, and I'm all for it, and have combed through our budget so we can definitely afford it, but hopefully a gallery night can bring in some money.

I get so wrapped up in takes pictures and different shots that I lost track of time and didn't even notice is was after 3pm, so I jump up and speed to go get Emery, who got out of school at 2:30pm; luckily her school has an after school program, granted we'll have to pay extra, but she won't notice I'm late, hopefully.

* * *

 **Thursday 8pm**

"Thanks again for letting me tag along on your work trip." Santana smiles once we are at a cruising altitude.

I grab her hand and lift it to my mouth, peppering kisses to her palm. "You're welcome, honey, thanks for coming to work with me so I didn't have to pay my assistant." I tease.

Santana laughs while rolling her eyes. "Oh I still want my fair pay." She responds, raising an eyebrow at me.

"I'm sure we can work something, beautiful." I reply, leaning over and kissing her softly. "So, did you want to do anything tonight, or are we just relaxing?"

She thinks for a minute before glancing at her watch. "It'll be pretty late when we get there, so maybe just grab something to eat and relax around the hotel, or do you want to hit a bar and have some drinks?"

"That'll be cool, we haven't done that in a while," I reply happily. I honestly don't know the last time we've been able to really cut loose and not have to worry about picking up Emmy in the morning. Sure, we have date nights and stuff, but nothing like this for a while. "Do you want to get all dolled up, or just have a casual night?"

"Let's keep it casual tonight, then tomorrow we can go get a fancy dinner." Santana suggests.

"Sounds good, baby." I reply. "Wings and fries, hopefully."

* * *

 **Midnight**

After landing and getting to the hotel, and freshening up we called my mom to check on Emery, who was fast asleep but woke up long enough to tell us good night. We then decided to find something quick to eat before just hanging out around the hotel. We are walking hand in hand down the street, me dressed in dark jeans with an oversized bright blue cashmere sweater, a pair of brown ankle boots on. It's cold and snowing slightly so I have on a cream Northface vest as well, my hair down in it's natural curls. Santana has on a pair ripped skinny jeans, with a white fitted hooded sweatshirt, and a pair of brown Uggs, a greay Northface jacket on over, she had a big messy bun and looks so fuckin cute right now.

"You're staring." She blushes, looking up at me as we turn a corner.

"I like looking at you." I shrug as I nod to a bar and open the door for her to walk in.

We find a booth to the side and take a seat, as a waitress walks over right away. "Hey ladies, what can I get you?"

"Honey jack and lemonade for me." I say right away, before nodding to Santana, who orders a red bull and vodka, a splash of lemonade. "Do you have wings or any food here?"

"Yeah, we have wings what flavor?" She replies.

Santana perks up immediately. "Buffalo and a barbecue if you have it."

"How many?"

"Ummmm, 10 each?" Santana shrugs, locking eyes with. "And celery if you have it."

"I'll put this in for you ladies." She nods.

I stare at Santana, who is texting on her phone, nodding her head to the music, before slipping her cell phone back in her pocket. "That was Quinn, she wanted to meet for lunch on Saturday."

"This is our first time in Chicago together." I state, "we've both been here, me for a day trip for work, and you for a conference for work, but not together."

Santana chews on her bottom lip before nodding. "I guess so." She smiles brightly. "I didn't really get to sight see or anything when I was here, after we sleep in late tomorrow how about we look up some stuff to check out during the day."

"Sounds good." I reply as our drinks come out. "I know their aquarium is super cool here, but I kind of wanna go with Emmy."

"She would totally love that." Santana replies, taking a sip of hers. "Oh! We should go see The Bean. I follow this instagram account that posts main attractions in different cities, and they always post that."

"Cool." I shrug. "Want to do some shopping?" I ask her. "Not just for Emmy, for ourselves."

"You know I'm not going to turn that down." She laughs. "To a great night." She smiles, lifting her drink in air.


End file.
